


Ghostly-Girl

by just_another_wholockian



Series: Spidey-Boy Series (DISCONTINUED) [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2019-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:49:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23857879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_wholockian/pseuds/just_another_wholockian
Summary: When a ghost from Peter's past returns to aid him in defeating a new villain on the block, will he be able to keep it together or will he fall apart?
Relationships: Peter Parker/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Spidey-Boy Series (DISCONTINUED) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719259
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Peter moped for a month. Unsure of what to do now she was gone, he missed her bright smile, her bright eyes, just her presence. He loved her and now she was gone.

And it was his fault.

The funeral was quiet, the only people who came were Peter, Tony, Rhodey and Pepper. May had no idea that she'd died, to her knowledge, Madeline had simply moved away. He wanted to be alone anyway, he stayed a full two hours after everyone else had left. He picked some daisies from the surrounding area and tied a little bow around them made from a blade of grass. Sure, Peter had some advanced strength but he knew how to be gentle. He made multiple bunches and slipped them inside the ring he got her. He placed the ring in the dirt to hide it and make sure no one would steal it.

Peter grew distant, he stopped texting Ned, he didn't leave the apartment and when he did it was only to get something from the local store. Ned knocked on his door every so often but Peter would never answer, May did and she expressed time and time again how worried she was about him. Ned expressed the same concern as May did, hell, even MJ was worried. Only May had been the one to see him and he looked terrible.

His eye's had lost the brightness they had once before, he lost his smile that was usually flashed on a daily basis. His hair was greasy and hadn't been brushed is awhile, he looked skinnier than before. He hadn't had the best eating habits since she'd left and May knew that. She'd watch him eat about a third of what was on his plate before he would leave the table. She didn't know what to do, she hadn't seen him like this since Ben died and there was only one person who pulled him out of a rut like this.

Madeline.

Peter hadn't been doing his Spiderman duties since she passed but that was to be expected, he took his suit out every day and just stared at it. He was ashamed, ashamed that he couldn't've saved her, ashamed that he dared to call himself a hero, ashamed that the city has no idea that he killed the girl he loved. All that remained of Madeline now was captured in photos, which, he didn't even have. He gave them all to Tony, Tony was planning on looking for Steve to give him the heads up about it. Tony made a package of her belongings, pictures. He had nothing left to remember her by except for one strip of photos that he just couldn't give up. The ones from Lunar Park. He carried them everywhere he went, he didn't want to leave them behind because he felt like she'd be forgotten about. 

Tony had to watch as the crime rate in the city hit the roof, no one was coming to stop the criminals. Him included. He hadn't looked at one of his suits since the night he got the call from T'Challa. He couldn't stomach it, he should've been there for them. They were just kids, after all, he knows Steve would've wanted him to protect her at all costs. 

Tony had to do something about the crime rate in New York, so, on the last week of the summer holidays before Peter went back to school. He cleared everything from his planner and took a trip to Queens. He had to talk to Peter, shake him up a little, make him realise that he is the hero Queens needs right now.

Tony knocked on the apartment door, knowing May wouldn't be home. He waited for a moment before he heard footsteps come to the door, he knew Peter is on the other side of the door and he knew Peter wouldn't open the door.

"Peter, let me in. I just want to talk, alright?" Peter rested his head against the door, he didn't want to let Mr Stark in but he needed to, he knew he did. Peter unlocked the door and let him in. Tony wasn't shocked by the messy, tired looking teen in front of him, he'd seen it once before. He'd seen himself be the same way and he hated seeing others like that, knowing exactly what Peter was going through.

Tony walked in and the pair sat on the sofa together, for a minute, neither of them spoke.  
"She's gone and it hurts like hell. But you can not let that get in the way of your life. She'd want you to move on and not get hung up on her the way you are-" Peter got up from the sofa, ready to lock himself in his room again.   
"I know you had something special but you have your life to get on with. I know you probably imagined the two of you together forever but - you have school next week. You'll get to see all your friends again-"  
"I don't want to see them. I just- I want to see her..." Peter leans over the kitchen countertop, unable to look Tony in the eyes, he taps his foot against the floor, trying to hold tears in.   
"I know you do but that's just not going to happen any time soon, alright? You need to focus on yourself and school. Can you do that for me?" Peter remains silent as he watches a single teardrop hit the floor.  
"If you can't do it for me, at least do it for your Aunt's sake. Please. Queens needs it's old Peter back." Peter still didn't say anything, Tony patted him on the back before leaving Peter in silence. 

Peter stayed leaning over the countertop, tears dripping onto the floor. Tony's words had made an impact on him, he stood up and went to the bathroom to shower. He was going to text Ned as soon as he showered and got dressed.

* * *

"So, do you need help catching up on homework or whatever?" Ned dropped his bag beside Peter's bed.  
"No, I'm good. I just wanted to hang out, I haven't seen you all summer. I'm sorry about that." Peter rubs the back of his neck as he looks at his feet.  
"It's fine, I understand." 

The pair rewatched Star Wars together whilst Ned talked about what he did over the summer holidays. He told Peter about how he and his family went away but Peter already knew that. He listened to everything Ned had to say, he'd missed these kinds of chats with his friend. 

Together the pair built a few small Lego sets and Ned asked Peter if he wanted to help him build the Death Star set he was getting in couple weeks time. Peter, of course, said yes and Ned slept over that same night. May was over the moon when she got the text about Ned sleeping over, she was just happy that he was returning to normality.

Over the last week of summer, Peter hung out with Ned more and started looking like himself again. He showered every day, cleaned his room out of junk and pinned the photos of him and Madeline up on the wall where he could always see them. He was ready to go back to school and to continue his duties as Spiderman, not that anyone would know it's him of course. 

He went out overnight after May had gone to bed and helped stop crimes but he noticed something weird. Everyone had said crime had gone up but from Peter could see, if anything, crime had gone down. He had no idea what was going on. 

He went back to school like everything was normal, no one bothered him, except Ned and MJ but he was thankful for it. He just wanted a quiet first day back. Harry was nowhere to be seen and Peter was glad, he didn't want his secret getting out and spreading like wildfire around the school.

He opened his locker like normal to swap his books for the day. He closed his locker and Ned was stood behind him.   
"Ready for chemistry?" Peter looked at him with a frown.  
"Of course not." The pair started making their way toward the chemistry labs, Peter couldn't help but feel empty. The corridors felt empty, he had completed tuned Ned out and he struggled to breathe.  
"Peter? Are you alright? Do you need to go see the nurse?" Peter leant against the lockers for a moment, he closed his eyes so he could control his breathing again. 

When he opened his eyes again, the corridor was actually empty, the only people left were Peter and Ned.  
"I'm sorry, Ned. I thought I was ready to come back but I'm not." Peter sprinted down the corridor and out the doors. He sprinted back to the train station. 

He ran to an alleyway, fighting crime will help clear his head, he thinks. He changes into his suit, throwing his bag against a nearby dumpster and webbing it there. He activates his web shooters and swings onto the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. It's a weekday and Peter has missed the morning rush hour. He should've texted May to tell her he wasn't ready to go back to school but he didn't, instead, he cleared his head by swinging through the city.

* * *

Over the course of four hours, Peter had only helped three people. There just wasn't any crime in the city, Peter had helped a woman who was lost and the biggest crime he stopped was a grand theft bicycle. 

He was sat on top of Madeline's apartment building without realising it, his legs were swinging over the edge of the building with Madeline's old balcony underneath him. Peter sat maskless, just watching the cars go down the street. His head was jumbled with thoughts of Madeline, he missed her more than words could explain. He missed her touch, the way he felt around her, her smile, her - just her.

THUD  
Peter snaps his head around to the roof behind him but sees nothing that could've caused such a loud sound. The hairs on the back of Peter's neck stand on end and Peter slipped his mask back on as he patrols the area. 

It's a wide open space with only the roof access corridor blocking the view, Peter walks around the other side of it. Ready to fight anyone who may be there, only to find no one there. The hairs on the back of Peter's neck went back to normal but the hairs on his left arm stood up. He follows the feeling to the edge of the building, he looks over the edge and sees her balcony.

For almost a minute he just stands at the edge of the building, staring at the balcony, the place where she first met him as Spiderman. The place where she helped him by wrapping him up in bandages. The place where-

Did the doors just move? Peter jumps down to the balcony, landing with a small thump. The balcony hasn't changed at all, the same small wooden table with matching chairs. Peter brushes his fingers along the top of the chairs, thinking back to when they shared a bowl of popcorn whilst watching the sunrise. 

The pair weren't really meant to stay up till six in the morning but they did. It was Saturday morning and they had a large bowl of popcorn in front of them, they threw pieces of popcorn into each other's mouths whilst the city around them started to wake up. 

Madeline was staring out at the view, she found it stunning, the way the colours blended together on the horizon. Mixed with the shadows that it cast over the city's multiple skyscrapers, it made for an unforgettable view. 

Peter was also staring, he loved the way the colours were being reflected off of the shades of brown, how the light colours really brought out the complexion on the surface. The way the shadows danced on the surface and how the light made the darker shades shine through. 

"You okay there, Peter?" Peter snapped his head away from Madeline's face and he actually looked at the city.   
"Yeah, yeah... I'm good." Madeline laughed at him and looked back at the view but Peter couldn't stop staring at her out the corner of his eye.

He loved the way the colours were being reflected off of the shades of brown in her eyes, the golden flakes that were shining through more predominantly than ever. How the colours of the sunrise brought out how perfect her complexion, the way the shadows danced on the surface of her delicate skin. The way the darker shades of her hair were shining through in the light.

Peter lifts his mask as he wipes tears from his eyes. He turns to the doors themselves, they were now open when they were closed just moments earlier. He puts his mask back over his face as he pulls the doors open.

Madeline's old bedroom looks the exact same, everything is just as Peter remembers it being. With the red walls and her bed had black sheets with candy skulls on them. Her favourite holiday was the day of the dead. She told Peter all about the different things they did to celebrate the dead, she told him about how she loved the bright colours and the flowers people would lay down for their loved ones. When Peter questioned her knowledge of the celebration she simply said: "I'm self-taught, remember?". Peter could've listened to her talk about the day of the dead for hours, he loved learning new things and especially when he learned them from Madeline.

Peter ran his fingers along Madeline's vanity, his eyes flicker over the sheets that are there. Most of them are her old school notes, some of them are paperwork from Oscorp that she never got the chance to sort out. 

Oscorp. Oscorp had been shut down by Tony after what Harry had become, Tony seized all of the rights to the company legally and shut it down. He wiped all data banks and destroyed everything the company had ever made, to the public's knowledge anyway. 

Peter continued to scope her room out, looking at everything he could see. He wasn't able to shake the tingling in his Spidey-senses though, he felt as if he was being watched. His eyes met with the Ferris Wheel model he made for her, it was on her bedside table. Peter's eyes flickered back and forth between the table and her vanity, how did it move across the room? 

Peter slips his bag off of his shoulders, leaving it dead centre in the room. He walks over to it and gently touches it, causing it to spin a little. He smiles at the memory of him and Madeline on the Ferris Wheel at Luna Park, he remembers the look on her face when he won the toy for her on the claw machine. 

As he turns away, something in one of the little baskets glints in the sunlight from her windows, catching his eye in the process. He stops and catches the moving wheel in his hand, he spins it the opposite way until he finds which small basket it is in. He picks up the small object and lays it in the palm of his hand. He tilts his head in confusion. How can it be here? He buried it beside her grave with a few little daisies in it.

He is holding the ring. Her ring. 

He looks back inside of the baskets and sees the daisies, nearly all of them are dead or wilting. Peter drops the ring on the floor and backs away. He stares at it as he retreats, he bumps into something behind him but when he turns to see what it was, there's nothing there.

His breath hitches in his throat, he continues to back away toward his bag, forgetting he left it dead centre in the room. He trips and falls over it, hitting his head on the floor. He groans as he feels the back of his head, only he's not feeling the back of his head. Someone else is.

He stands up, still groggy from falling. He checks the room again.  
Nothing.  
"Mr Stark brought it back. Yeah, yeah. That's what happened. She's gone. She died." He walks to his bag and picks it up, he adjusts the straps as he walks back to the balcony doors.  
"Mr Stark brought it back, that's what happened. She's gone, she's not coming back." 

He gently closes them behind him and leans his head against the window pane. He looks as far as he can into the room and spots something. Something he hasn't seen in a while. 

His black and white plaid shirt.

He forgot he'd given it to her after Ben died, he opens the doors again. He walks straight over to the shirt, it was left just underneath the corner of her bed. He picks it up and feels the material of the shirt, he forgot how soft the shirt actually was. He pressed it against his chest as he thinks back to the night of the shooting.

He remembers seeing his Uncle on the floor, covered with blood. He remembers how rude he was to Madeline right before the shooting. He remembers how she was there for him through all of it. Even when Peter didn't text her back.

"Why can't you be here now? I need you right now." Peter sobbed into the shirt, he took his mask off so he could wipe his eyes and smell the shirt. It smells like her, she always wore a coconut body spray that Peter could identify from a mile away. Not because of his spider senses, more because it was so strong but not strong enough to choke you.

Peter decides to stuff the shirt in his bag, he searches the apartment for the body spray itself. He knocks a few things over as he goes but he eventually finds the spray. He sprays the shirt over once more before leaving for good.

He swings onto the building opposite her's but turns back one last time to look. Only to see something move in the window, Pete squints so he can get a better look but doesn't see anything. So, he passes it off as his imagination before swinging back to his apartment.


	2. Chapter 2

Peter gently closes the front door behind him, hoping May won't hear him.

She did.

"PETER BENJAMIN PARKER! JUST WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?" Peter freezes on the spot as an angry looking Aunt May storms over to him. He would've come through his window like normal, only, he forgot to unlock it this morning. 

Peter hangs his head in shame, he drops his bag to the floor and puts a cheeky smile on his face as a way of softening the blow to Aunt May.  
"Come here." May pulls him into a tight hug, Peter hugs back instantly.  
"I'm sorry. I just - I thought I was ready for school but I wasn't."   
"It's okay, take as much time as you need. Just text me next time."  
"Will do." The pair pulls away and Peter picks up his bag. 

"I've got work to do." May nods her head and watches him as he walks away to his room. Peter empties his bag of his school books and his suit. He folds it up and replaces it in the case Mr Stark gave him. 

His room is a little messy, with a few pieces of clothing on the floor and other books he's been meaning to read. He collects up his things from the floor and dumps them on his window ledge for the night. He looks out his window at the buildings around him.

Everything suddenly seems so dull to Peter, summer has passed but New York was always sunny until October time. The buildings didn't have the same brightness to them, the trees seemed to be wilting at a quicker pace and even the flowers don't have the same feeling of happiness to them. Peter pulls on his curtains and closes them but something on the rooftop catches his eye. 

Someone's watching him.

He whips the curtains open again but sees nothing but a smudge on the window, he sighs deeply and closes the curtains.

Meanwhile, the figure that was stood on top of the rooftop runs. Thinking they've been spotted, they run back to their hideout. Which, is only a block or two away from Peter's apartment.

The doors open automatically as they reach them, they strip out of their suit and throw on some comfier clothes. The TV in their hideout has a direct link to their HQ of operations. They pray silently that it doesn't go off.

But it does.

"Shit." They mumble softly to themselves. They jump onto their sofa and grab the nearest book, The Hunger Games.  
"Hey, N-"  
"What were you doing? I have been calling you for an hour."  
"I was reading and doing a stakeout."  
"Well, that's funny, according to your mission logs. You have no stakeouts to do. So, I'm going to ask you again. What were you doing?"   
"I was doing a stakeout, off the books. They were a danger to themselves, they could be killed at any moment-"  
"So you did go see him again. You know your commanding officer will not be happy-"  
"Yeah, 'cause that's all he is anymore. Just a commanding officer, no more family relationships."  
"You expressed your hatred for him just last month. Which, is why we moved you to New York. To be away from him."  
"The only reason I hate him is that he did everything he could to bring me back, I didn't ask to be brought back-"  
"You should be grateful he brought you back, now you can go live your life-"  
"Life? What life? I'm stuck in here, I'm not allowed to go outside unless I am invisible. I can't see the boy I love because he lied to him and the rest of the team, telling them I'm dead. I don't have a life! I'm just some stupid pawn in a stupid game that Steve is making me be a part of!"  
"I know you miss P-"  
"Don't say his name, I'll spiral again and this time I won't have anyone to knock me out."  
"I know you miss him but you're not in New York to see him. You're in New York-"  
"To check out the doggy weapon sales." They imitate their accent, pissing the former spy off even more. "I know why I'm here. It's just... hard. Knowing he's out there and I can't go see him, it hurts. It really does."   
"I know it does. Just hang on a little while longer. I promise you that one day you'll be able to see him. Right now though, with the accords still on rocky terrain. It's best for you to stay hidden. I'll check in again tomorrow. Bye."  
"Bye." With that, they swipe their hand and the screen goes blank. They grab their book and head back to their room.

They look under their bed for their favourite shirt, they could've sworn they left it here last night.  
"Oh right, he took it back." Instead, they climb into their bed, staring at the photos of herself and Peter together until she falls asleep.

* * *

Peter went back to school the next day, he felt better for having gone back to her apartment one last time.

Ned was waiting for him at his locker with a small piece of Lego he'd found in his pocket.   
"Hey, sorry about yesterday. I just-"  
"Nah, it's okay. You don't have to explain anything to me." Peter opens his locker and swaps his books in and out. Their first lesson of the day was P.E.

Ned and Peter walk to the gym together. They walk straight into the changing rooms, almost everyone was already in there. The boys quickly get changed before heading back out to the bleachers.

They take a seat at the very top to not draw attention to themselves. But someone noticed them.  
"Hey, Penis Parker. Where's your little girlfriend? Oh, right, yeah. She ditched you, didn't she?" Tony had told the school that she had to move away due to family issues, the only people who know of her death are Tony, Peter, Ned and a few other Avengers. All Aunt May knew was that she had to move away due to family issues, something to do with her custody case. May didn't want to push him on it, she knew love when she saw it. 

Peter stayed quiet, he didn't want any trouble. Especially from Flash. Ned rubbed Peter's back as a sign of comfort, he wanted to smack Flash for his comment. Even MJ was angry and you don't mess with an angry MJ.  
"Piss off Flash." MJ rolled her eyes and went back to her book, the room erupted in with "oohs" and snorts of laughter. Flash was not impressed, however. He didn't care, no one ever listens to MJ. For a while, she had been saying about how she sees someone go into an old apartment that no one has lived in since near the start of summer. But no one ever listens to MJ.

* * *

At lunch, Peter sat with Ned and MJ sat further down the table from them. All three of them were eating their lunches whilst the busy hall around them shared conversations. Peter stares longingly at one of the senior girls on another table.

"Like what you see?" Peter snaps out of his daze as Ned is right beside his face.  
"No, I was just lost in thought..." Peter continues to eat his lunch whilst trying to hide his flushed cheeks.  
"Lost in thought about Liz Allen?" Peter side eyes Ned.

"Hey, did you hear? Spiderman is back. Just in time as well, maybe he can team up with Aura again." Peter snaps his head toward Ned, he hadn't heard anyone use that name in months. Peter pulls Ned's phone toward himself to watch a video.

It's of a bank robbery, dated just three weeks ago, four armed men walk into a bank with shotguns. They fire at the ceiling, demanding everyone get on the ground, they usher the security guards and other staff members away from any sort of panic alarms. The people are cornered into one side of the room when the doors fly open by themselves, everyone turns in anticipation to see if it's the police. No one appears in the doorway but the robbers hold up their guns just in case. 

One by one, the robbers are taken out by some kind of invisible force. Their guns go up in the air by themselves, each of the thieves are blasted backwards by nothing. Over the course of a minute, each of them is restrained and the police come in to deal with them. 

Peter continues to watch on as a person appears in the middle the room, they head over to the group of hostages to free them. Peter instantly recognises them, her brown hair. The way it glints in the sun and brings out the different shades. She is wearing a blue off the shoulder shirt with black leggings, her black mask goes her eyes and she has a pair of plain black trainers on.

Peter's breath catches in his throat as she walks to the doors. He watches as she is greeted by a police officer and she smiles. Peter's heart skips a beat, he's missed her smile so badly. He knew her smile anywhere.

"Huh, that's the person I keep seeing going into that old apartment in Queens." Peter snaps his head around to MJ, she's leaning over Ned's shoulder with a set of books in her arms and a cup of coffee in hand.  
"What apartment? Do you have the address?" Peter stand from his chair, a look of hope in his eyes that only Ned recognises.  
"I don't know the exact address, Parker. It's in the Forrest Hills area, one hundred-"

"One hundred and eighth street." Peter cuts MJ off as he knows exactly which apartment she is talking about.

Madeline's.

Peter sprints out the canteen, bag in hand. MJ and Ned watched on in confusion as Peter almost takes the door off as he burst through the doors. 

Peter sprints to his locker and almost rips the door off as he opens it. He takes his jacket out, throws in some of his books to lighten his bag. He closes his locker but as he spins around, Flash pins him against the lockers.

"And just where are you going, Penis Parker?" Peter struggles to breathe as Flash is holding his shirt collar against the locker, causing it to cut off Peter's air supply. Peter can already feel a bruise forming where his ribs made contact with the metal.  
"Family emergency." Peter coughs as he still can't breathe, Flash laughs.  
"Family emergency? That's a good one." Flash gets closer to Peter's face, Peter can feel his hot breath on his cheeks and smell the coffee on his breath.  
"You don't have a family, Parker. They left you with your Aunt and Uncle for the money-"  
"Shut up, you know nothing-"  
"Your uncle was later shot dead in the street. The girl you liked, never liked you back and she left you too-"  
"I said shut up!" Peter knows he can't use his strength in front of Flash, it would spread like wildfire around the school.  
"The only family you have left is that shitty Aunt of yours, she can't even cook." That was the last straw for Peter, he couldn't care less what people think of him but insulting his Aunt was crossing the line.

But before Peter could react to Flash, he took off.

Literally.

Flash was floating in mid-air, he started kicking and grabbing at whatever was holding him there but couldn't grasp anything. The fear in his eyes was hilarious to Peter, he'd never seen Flash looks so scared. Peter had slid down the locker door, coughing as he got some air back in his lungs. 

"Parker, the hell are you doing to me?"  
"It's not me." Some students have started to congregate in the corridor to see what all the noise is about. Flash grew angry but before he could lash out at anyone, he dropped from the floor. Landing with a thud on his back, he tries to move but can't. His limbs are stuck to the floor around him, everyone watches on in confusion. He gives Peter and angry look and goes to say something but before he can, he is dragged down the corridor by an invisible force. Kicking and screaming as he goes. 

Everyone in the corridor around the pair laughs, Peter is still sat on the floor, unsure of what just happened in front of him. He grabs his bag strap and sees someone holding their hand out to help him up. He graciously takes their hand, straightens his shirt as he gets up. He catches a glimpse of who helped him up, a girl with a blue hoodie on that hid her face.  
"Thanks." He swings his bag onto one shoulder before looking back at the person, only, they're gone.

Amidst the chaos of the people in the corridor, Peter slips away. The bell signalling the end of lunch has gone, making it harder for Peter to catch the person. He sees someone in a blue hoodie just ahead of himself. He pushes through the growing crowd of people, he's just trying to get to the person in the blue hoodie. Teachers slip by him, trying to get to the source of the commotion. He's quick on the blue hoodie's tail, he can see that they are injured as they are limping slightly. They head toward the front doors and make a break for it, Peter chases after them. Ignoring the people yelling at him to stop.

They burst through the front doors to the school, Peter watches as they disappear mid-jump over the school gate. Peter runs down the stairs and runs toward the gate to recreate what they just did.

"Parker!" Peter skids a little on his heels and turns to face the principle.  
"My office. Now!" Peter sighs and follows him back inside the school, he turns back to the school gate and sees the figure running across the sports field in the hoodie.

* * *

"Want to explain what happened in the corridor?"  
"I don't know what you want me to tell you, sir. I slipped and fell against the lockers and Flash was nowhere near me. I don't know what happened to him, probably just some stupid prank or something." The principle leans back in his chair a little, thinking over what both boys have said to him. He definitely believes Parker over Thompson but it still doesn't explain what happened to Parker and where he was going.

"Alright, Parker. You're dismissed. Send Thompson back in on you're way out." Peter stand from his chair and grabs his bag, swinging it over his shoulder as he goes. He opens the door and sees Flash looking less bubbly as usually and Ned sat next to him.   
"He wants to see you." Peter gestures to the door and Flash barges Peter into the wall as he passes him.

"Are you alright? I heard about what happened." Peter adjusts his bag before answering Ned.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't know what happened. One minute Flash has me pinned against a set of lockets and the next... he's being flung down the corridor by an invisible force." The pair walks back to their last class together. Spanish.

* * *

Peter closes the apartment door behind him, he would've gone straight back to Madeline's apartment but he'd gotten a text from May. Telling him to go straight home. He's in trouble.

"Peter, what happened? I got the call from your principle about something going on in the corridor. Between you and some boy named Flash?"   
"It's just a misunderstanding. Nothing to worry about."  
"Nothing to worry about? They said a boy was thrown halfway down the corridor!"  
"That had nothing to do with me. That was someone else."  
"Who? Give me there name so I can report them." May grabs her phone but Peter steps her dialling the school number.  
"I don't know their name. It was one of the older kids. Don't worry about it." May sighs deeply, not taking her eyes off of Peter for one second.   
"Fine. But don't let it happen again, I just don't want you getting injured." May pulls Peter into a hug and Peter tries not to let it show on his face that he is in pain. 

"Ned wants to hang out. Can I go out?"  
"Yes. Just don't be back too late." Peter picks his bag up again and heads for the door.

"I'll see you later." He runs to the stairwell and checks to see if anyone is in there with him. The coast is clear, he throws his bag down. It makes a loud before he jumps down the middle of the stairs. He's thin enough the fit through without catching on anything. He lands perfectly on the floor and picks his bag up before walking out to the lobby. 

He skips his way down to his usual alleyway and webs his bag against the nearest dumpster as he changes into his suit. He shoots a web onto the nearest rooftop and pulls himself up, he's only a few blocks away from Madeline's apartment building.

He swings over the streets and toward Madeline's building in a hope he'll catch her there. If she really is back, Peter has a hell of a lot of questions for her. He thinks about what he would ask her. The very first thing he would ask her is: 

"What the hell?" Probably followed by:

"How long have you been back?" 

Peter lands on the rooftop opposite Madeline's apartment, he squints so he can see inside of her apartment. All he can see is her empty room but the lights are on.  
"It's four in the afternoon, why are they all on?" Peter mumbles to himself. Peter shoots a web across to her apartment building and swings across to it. He lands gently on the roof before jumping onto the balcony. He looks inside the still empty room. 

Peter walks through the doors, he slips his mask off as he looks around the room. He knows she's there but he knows she won't show herself willingly.   
"Mads. I know you there. Please show yourself. You have an idea what it's been like over these past two months."

"No. You have no idea what it's been like over these past two months."


	3. Chapter 3

Peter turns on his heels and...

And there she is, she looks the exact same. Her hair is still brown and her eyes are a slightly lighter and her skin is colourless. 

"Oh my god. You really are back. I thought I was imagining things when Ned showed me that video of the bank robbery." Madeline rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, I'm back. Yippee." She couldn't've said it more sarcastically. Peter was shocked at her mood, usually, she was a bright happy person. Not anymore though.

"Look, I don't mean to be rude or anything but how long are you going to be here. It's just I have to go out on a streak out."   
"Streak out? Why would you go on a streak out?"  
"Because I couldn't just come here. I had to come here on a mission. Steve wouldn't allow me just to come here."   
"What mission? What mission could you possibly be on?"   
"There have been reports of dodgy weapon sales in the city. Nat sent me here in hopes of finding some information about them out and maybe take them down."   
"How long have you been alive?" Madeline instantly tenses up, she really doesn't want to talk about it, ever.  
"None of your business." Peter grew angry at her, he didn't think it would be possible to get angry at her.  
"Did you even di-?"  
"YES!" Peter jumps back, shocked at her suddenly snapping. "I did. I did die. I remember it as if it happened yesterday. I remember the pain from it. The pain I didn't feel at the time but the pain I remember is unforgettable. You have no idea what the past month and a half has been like for me." Madeline blinks as she realises she's pushed Peter out the balcony doors, she still has her finger on his chest from where she kept repeatedly jabbing him in the chest. He just stares her in the eyes, shocked by this new, angrier version. He doesn't like it.

"What the hell happened to you?" Madeline backs away into her apartment again, shocked by the fact that she got so violent toward Peter.  
"A lot." Madeline opens her bedroom door, Peter follows behind her quickly. She opens one of her cupboard doors and grabs, what to Peter looks like freeze-dried food. She adds it to a pot of water and it grows into a weird cup-cake like thing. 

Madeline grabs it out of the pot and takes a seat on the couch in front of the TV. She pissed but she wants to calm down, the last time she was this angry she almost killed Steve. She knows she could never intentionally hurt Peter but if she were to lose it, she could kill him. 

Peter walks over to the sofa and sits next to her as she eats, he really starts to take in the sight before him. He noticed her skin was colourless already but it's only just hitting him just how colourless it is. He can see all of her veins in her face, they give off a weird and creepy blue tint, he can see her bones in her hands. She is skinnier than when he first met her. Her eyes are the same, only a tint of brown is left in them. He hair looks lifeless, no volume in it whatsoever and it looks as if she only brushes it anymore. 

"What are you staring at?" Peter's eyes snap down to his hands.   
"N-nothing, sorry." Madeline suddenly feels a pit of guilt in her stomach grow, she hates hurting Peter. She knows that he's soft and always feels like he could do better even though he's already doing his best. He just doesn't see it, he's definitely a Hufflepuff kind of guy.

"I don't really know."  
"Don't know what?"  
"What happened to me. I just remember waking up one day, literally two days later." Peter shifts his body so that he is facing Madeline at a better angle. He rests his arms on his legs as he leans forward.  
"I was alone in a completely white room. I was laying on a white bed. Not a medical bed, just a completely white bed. I did have a medical gown on though." Madeline thinks back to the day she woke up for the first time.

Madeline opened her eyes slowly. They burned at first from the bright lights, she blinked a couple of times to get used to the light. She rubbed both eyes before propping herself up on one elbow. She looked around the room slowly. Everything is completely white and it was freaking her out.

A sudden scraping sound from behind her made Madeline sit up fully. The back of her head ached from the sudden movement.  
"No. No. No. Don't move too quickly. You'll open your cut again." She turned to see a girl her age, she had a thick accent that Madeline couldn't quite place. She definitely recognised her though.

"How are you feeling?" Madeline brought her knees to her chin, unsure if she could trust this person.   
"Everything is a little sore but other than that - look I don't mean to sound rude or anything but - who are you and where are we?" She sat on the edge of the bed, clearly uncomfortable about telling Madeline what happened.

"I'm Shuri. Before I tell you anything. What do you remember?" Madeline thought back for a moment.

"I remember falling. There was someone with me, in a red and blue suit. I don't know how they are though. I remember being in an alleyway with a red, white and blue shield looming over me. There was a ginger women there too." Shuri nodded as Madeline continued to think back.

"I think we were in New York. I remember being in a tower and finding something drastic out. Something to do with my father. I remember seeing a boy there, he had brown hair and matching eyes. But I sense something bad in him and the memories I have of him. I remember going shopping with him and I remember how I didn't like the clothes he'd chosen out for me. I remember going to someone else's apartment. I can't remember his name though." Madeline unintentionally smiled as she thought of Peter.   
"He makes me feel happy, why?" Shuri just smiled at Madeline before saying.  
"I don't know. It depends on how this boy is." A tear fell down Madeline's face and as she reached to touch her face, her index finger caught her eye.  
"I feel like something is missing from my hand. Like I had something on it but now... it's gone." Shuri knew of the ring but was told to say nothing about it for Madeline's mental sake.   
"Where are we?" Shuri grew a little uncomfortable. She wasn't meant to tell Madeline too much information because Steve wanted to protect her and give her a second chance. Away from Peter and Tony.

"Honesty. I don't know. Your father will be in shortly to see you." Madeline nodded her head, with her knees still under her chin as Shuri left her with her thoughts.

"So, at first I didn't remember you or Harry. Or my father. Please don't take it personally."  
"I'm not. It's not your fault. It's mine."  
"No-"  
"Yes. I should never have let you go in there-"  
"I chose to that. It's on me. I thought I could handle myself but you were right. I couldn't." Peter still shakes his head a little.   
"No. You handle yourself perfectly fine. I couldn't handle myself. I let you fall. I knew you didn't have your powers back yet and I still didn't shoot the web to save you. It's my fault."  
"No." Madeline leans forward and takes Peter's hand in her own, this catches Peter a little off guard because of how cold she is.  
"It's Harry's fault, he attacked us. He is the reason I..." Madeline let her sentence trail off purposely. Peter put his hand on top of hers to comfort her. 

The pair made eye-contact that didn't break for almost a minute. Peter's eyes kept flickering down to her lips, he's missed her so badly over the two months. Madeline knows she shouldn't do this but she wants to. She needs to. Else, she'll go crazy knowing that he knows about her.

They both start leaning in at the same time as if they can read the others mind. Peter's hands find Madeline's waist instantly and Madeline's hands find Peter's messy hair. Their lips finally meet and fireworks go off. Literally. Madeline loses control of her powers for a brief moment, sending a gust of window over Peter's back. Causing him to shiver slightly. Madeline grabs Peter by the neck of his suit and pulls him on top of her as she deepens the kiss. 

Madeline tugs as Peter's hair as he lays on top of her, he moans into the kiss, causing Madeline to smirk. Peter's right hand cupped her face whilst his left propped him up, his hand slowly slipped down her neck but stopped when he felt a weird line. A scar.

Madeline instantly pulls away, shuffles out from underneath Peter as he looks on confused. She touches her neck, feeling embarrassed by the scar. Peter gets up as well, he feels stupid for making her feel like this.  
"What's it from?" Madeline stays silent. Questioning if she should tell him the truth or not.   
"It's just am operation scar, I've always had it."   
"No, you haven't. I would remember something like that."   
"It's just an operation scar. It's not important." Peter walks up behind Madeline and places his hand on her shoulder to comfort her but she pulled away.  
"Sorry. I'm just... not used to people touching me."  
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Madeline shakes her head a little, still holding the scar.

"Madeline." Madeline's eyes flickered to the right of her and she saw a man she recognised as her father. "Do you recognise me?"  
"You're my father but I can't remember your name." He was wearing a dark blue shirt with grey jogging bottoms.   
"I'm Steve. Your safe now."  
"Where am I?"  
"We are in a country called Wakanda. You were going to help build shelters for the poor here, remember?" Madeline tried to think back as far as she could. The word Wakanda rings a bell in her head.  
"Yeah. I think." Madeline goes to instinctively touch her index finger again, only for nothing to be there.  
"Everything will get better, I promise but for now. Relax, rest up. Why don't you have a shower and put some clothes on?" Madeline nodded her head and Steve left her.

Madeline decided to take a shower as the gown was getting more and more uncomfortable. She walked into the bathroom and saw a towel on the floor next to different shampoos and soaps. She turned the shower on and jumped in straight away.

She let the water fall on the very top of her head. She relaxed as it ran over her shoulders and down her back. Something was oddly familiar about this to Madeline, she closed her eyes and leant her head back. The water ran down her face as she remembered a red and black plaid shirt and a book with the number five on it. She remembered a necklace, it had a key on the chain.

She opened her eyes again and washed before she got out. She grabbed a towel and wrapped her hair around it before covering herself. Seeing as there were no clothes or a wardrobe around her, Madeline walked out to the room again. Her feet making a slight slapping sound again the floor as she went. She couldn't see a wardrobe or a cupboard for that matter, anywhere in her room. She leant against one of the wall panels, only for it to move and scare her. It spans around to reveal a hidden walk-in wardrobe, Madeline walked in with haste.

She scanned every piece of clothing she could see. She pulled out a few shirts to see them fully, she decided on a plain blue shirt with grey jean shorts. She grabbed a pair of black Vans before trying to find the exit to her room.

She walked over to where the door had opened before and it opened for her. She stuck her head around the corner to see if there were any guards waiting for her. Nothing.

She walked down the hallway, trying to be as quiet as possible. The walls were white with a black floor, no windows in sight, just more doors. She continued to walk until she saw sunlight coming through a distant window.

She ran to the window and saw something she never thought she'd see in a million years. A giant panther statue just visible in the mist.

"Madeline." She turned to see her father again.  
"Where are we?"   
"Wakanda." Madeline felt a sudden sharp pain in her head as the memories flooded her head.

'Peter can't seem to stop staring at Madeline. It is making her both uncomfortable and blush at the same time, he smiles and blushes himself when Madeline does.   
"I was left on the doorstep of a care home with nothing but this necklace and a note." She pulls the necklace out and lay the charm on her hand so he can see it.  
"Oh, it's really pretty." He says this as he looks at Madeline and not the charm but she tries to ignore this.  
She stops as something grabs her wrist, she turns back and sees Peter has subconsciously grabbed her wrist. She can hear him mumbling something, Madeline leans a little closer to his face so she can hear.  
"Stay..." She smiles a little and slips her bag off, he tugs on her wrist and makes her sit next to the bed. She can feel his breath tickling her neck as he sleeps, she can't help but smile at how cute his tiny snore is. She feels at peace when she is with him and creeped out when with Harry. It's weird.   
Madeline looks across the street and sees the thief has a gun and has just shot someone. She runs across the street, she can already see they are losing an awful of blood. She pulls her phone out of her bag and calls for an ambulance.   
"Hi, I need an ambulance. Someone has been shot - Ben?" As she gets closer she realises it is, in fact, Uncle Ben who has been shot.   
Peter opens it and he is trying to hide the fact he is crying. He avoids making eye contact with her so she just pulls him into my chest for a hug, he breaks down and slips his arms around her neck. She gently rubs his back to comfort him, he says something into her chest but she can't hear what.  
"What?" He fully lifts his head up to her.  
"Can... can you stay... stay for the night? I don't want to be alone..." I look at him with slight confusion.  
"What about your aunt? You won't be alone but if you want me to, I will stay."   
Madeline smiles at the toy as Peter lowers it from his face and he has a cheeky smile on his face.  
"Tada. Got her first try." She takes the toy from his hands and feels how soft she is, she cuddles her for a moment.   
"Hey-" Is all she says before Peter pulls her into a bear hung around her neck. He starts to weep into her shoulder as she weeps into his, neither of them wants to let the other go.   
Madeline thinks he was knocked out by the impact of the fall, she grabs him by the shoulder and rolls him over. Only to see someone she thought she'd never see in a million years here.  
Peter.'

She remembered the experiments Hydra did on her, all her Hydra training. She remembered arriving at the airport and discovering that Peter was Spiderman. She remembered saving Rhodey by using her powers, she remembered waking up in her room with Peter at her side. She remembered the first time they kissed and how it felt. She remembered why she fell in love with Peter and it made her realise just how badly she wanted to be with him. 

She remembered signing up to come to Wakanda to 'help build homeless shelters', she remembers how she had in fact been in contact with her father the whole time and just wanted to spend time with him. She remembered the blackout in New York City and who caused it. She remembered Harry flying down and taking her up the top of the old clock tower. She remembered falling before Peter caught her, she remembered the bomb going off and how Peter shielded her with his body. She remembered when the webbing she was attached to was cut. She remembered falling with all the photos flying from her pockets and touching the ring on her finger. The ring.

Madeline looked back down at her index finger and touched where the rings was.   
"Kid, you okay? Shuri!" Steve had his hand on her right shoulder, trying to coax her out of her trance. Madeline still stared at her finger as the memories continued to flood her mind, although it hurt, she was to busy feeling betrayed by Steve. 

She remembered hitting her head, causing her head to ache and throb. She remembers hearing Peter's voice, telling her to not let go, to stay with him before everything went black. Her only memories after that are the ones she made in Wakanda.

"The scar is from an operation that... that I didn't even know about. It's the one that brought me back to life. I had no say in the matter." She is still rubbing it a little.   
"I'm not proud of it, I didn't ask to be brought back and everyone says I should be grateful for it. But... I've just ended up being a pawn in Steve's plan, you know? If I wanted to be brought back, I would go to school and hang out with you and Ned and..." Madeline starts to tremble, all she wants is a normal life that she'll never get in a million years now. Peter pulls her into his chest to comfort her, she snuggles in as close as she can get. She forgot just how comforting he is, she takes in his smell and feel. They just hug until Madeline's screen answers itself. 

The pair breaks apart as they meet with Steve's ice cold glare.  
He's not happy.

"Steve-"

"That's Captain Rogers to you, young lady." Peter instantly starts to feel anger build inside of him, how could he say something like that to his own daughter?  
"What the hell is he doing there? You know you aren't supposed to go out looking for him."  
"I didn't-"  
"She didn't-"  
"I'm talking to my daughter, Mr Parker. Madeline, you are coming back here tonight, Natasha will take your place." Madeline steps in front of Peter in a defensive way.   
"What? I didn't even do anything, he found me and to be honest... I want to stay here. To stay with Peter, in New York."   
"You know why you can't do that. You're not staying in New York. It's not safe."   
"Actually, Captain. Nobody knows she died except the Avengers and a close friend of mine. She's perfectly safe here, she can return to school whenever she wants." Steve glared at Peter for a moment before turning back to Madeline.

"So, what have you told him?" Madeline knows what he's getting at.   
"Only until I started to remember everything. I didn't get to... that part yet..." Peter looks at the pair as he is in utter confusion.   
"What part?" Madeline takes a deep breath and turns to Peter, she takes his hands in her own. She opens her mouth to say something but is cut off by her father.  
"She lost it and almost killed me. She can't fully control her powers and she lost it. Luckily Wanda was here to knock her out, I feared for my life." Peter is shocked, he knows Madeline could never do anything to hurt anyone, at least not on purpose.   
"This is so unfair. You have no right-"  
"She almost killed me-"  
"Liar!" Madeline started growing angry, causing her to unknowingly lift things into the air all around the room. Steve was pushing her buttons to get he angry. Peter was getting worried, he could sense the movement around them.   
"She threw object after object at me with her powers. I was lucky. None of them hit me." Peter looks back at Madeline to see her hanging her head in shame before it turns to anger.  
"You have no right to tell him this!" Peter began to grow more concerned, he knows at any moment she could lose it and he knows Steve is doing this on purpose. He's trying to split the pair up, Peter isn't that bad, is he?  
"Peter, you could be killed at any moment. I suggest you leave-"  
"No. The only one who has to go is you, Steve. You're just here to mess up my life! Why? Why did you bring me back? It wasn't because you're a caring father, was it? It was because you knew I could help you in your mission. Wasn't it?" The objects around the room are getting higher in the air and spinning violently.

"How dare you-"  
"How dare I? How dare you! You only called to split us up! You don't want me getting distracted from the mission! Well, news flash Steve, I don't care! I'm staying here in New York with Peter and that's final! Goodbye, Steve!" Madeline waves her hand in front of the screen, only for it not to turn off.   
"You are coming back here, young lady-" Before Steve could finish his sentence, Madeline throws her arms forward, making the objects around the room shatter the TV screen. 

She slides down the back of the couch and curls up into a ball and starts crying. Peter crouches down next to her to comfort her but she screams at him.  
"Get out! Leave me alone!" She pushes him away but he's stubborn and won't budge. "I said get out!" Peter is blasted across the room, back to Madeline's bedroom door. He crawls away, not wanting to anger her anymore and leaves.

She sits, curled up in a ball, crying. Alone.


	4. Chapter 4

After Peter left her, Madeline cried into the evening. She didn't go out to do her superhero duties and neither did Peter. Little did either of them know that it would have devastating effects on people's lives.

Madeline decided to text MJ.

Madeline  
Hey, I'm in town for at least one night. Want to meet up?  
Sent 18:36  
Read 18:36

MJ  
You couldn't've texted at a more perfect time. A girl at school is throwing a party, want to tag along?  
Read 18:38

Madeline  
Yeah, sure. I need to change though. Text me the address and I'll meet you there?  
Sent 18:39  
Read 18:40

MJ   
Sounds good.  
Read 18:40

Madeline gets changed into a black crop top, to say it's a crop top is an understatement. It's basically a bra. She throws on a matching grey skirt and grabs a red bomber jacket, she slips on a pair of red trainers to match. Grabbing her G clef necklace that has a small heart made of gems in it, she puts her hair in a bun, leaving the back and sides of her hair down.

Grabbing her G clef necklace that has a small heart made of gems in it, she puts her hair in a bun, leaving the back and sides of her hair down  
She skips down the stairwell and onto the street, completely unaware that she is being watched.

Peter went back to his apartment, locking himself in his room. He knows May will be going to bed soon anyway, the pair both completely misses the news on the prison break out or the attack on a Stark Industries warehouse. Something tugged at him though, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was going to get hurt but he brushed it off as being his emotions getting the better of him.

Madeline texts MJ to tell her that she is outside of the party, she can already feel the bass coming from the speakers inside. She doesn't even know whose house this is and she doesn't care. She just wants to have a good time and try to forget everything that happened just hours earlier.

"Lookin' good." MJ embraces her in a three-second hug. Madeline hugs back straight away.  
"How have you been? How's school going?" MJ simply shrugs her shoulders.  
"It's alright, just a dull as before. More so now that you've left. How come you're back then?"  
"Oh, I have to sort out my old apartment. All my old stuff is still there and my school work. Are there any drinks around here, I am parched." MJ gestures for Madeline to follow her.

They push through the big crowds, Madeline is surprised that she could even fit in the house, there are so many people. As they walk down on the hallways, Madeline spots a boy leaning against a wall, strumming a guitar. He meets her eyes and winks at her as she passes, Madeline smiles a little herself.

"There's cola, lemonade, juices. There are beers too but I don't think you want one of them-" Madeline picks up the bottle closest to her and takes a large swig from it.   
"Oh - alright then." MJ pours herself a cup of lemonade.  
"Who's that?" Madeline points the boy who winked at her as he approaches them slowly. Madeline soon realises that he is about six foot tall, extremely built and must be way too old for her but she doesn't care. He's hot. Not Peter hot but hot all the same.  
"Oh, that's Reggie. His friends are the one throwing the party, looks like he's got his eye on you."

Madeline braces herself as he gets closer to her, out the corner of her eye, she sees MJ slip away from the pair.  
"Hey, I couldn't help but notice you among these peasants. How did such a beauty as yourself get tangled in this mess of a party?" Madeline stifled a snort of laughter, was he serious?  
"Well, I recently moved away from the city and I am back for one night only. I think it's one night, no one ever tells me anything. Anyway, I thought, fuck it. I'll have a good time whilst I'm here. How'd such a gentleman like you get tangled in this mess?" Reggie smirks, making Madeline smirk in response.   
"Well, I was forced to come, it's my friends birthday so... I couldn't avoid it, even if I tried. Which I did." Madeline laughs. The music gets turned up as Stay by Zedd and Alessia Cara comes on.   
"Want to go to the roof? The view from up there is great, trust me we've had barbecues up there in summer. None of them ended well though." Madeline laughs even more before answering him.  
"Yeah, sure."

She follows him through the twisty house and onto the roof through a hatch. He was right, the view is incredible. The whole city can be seen from the roof, Madeline takes a minute to absorb it all. A gentle breeze passes through her hair and she turns to Reggie, only he's laying on the roof. He pats his hand next to him and she joins him, still drinking her beer.

Madeline knows alcohol won't affect her because of the super soldier serum flowing through her veins but she drinks it anyway. She stares at the stars above her, wondering what Peter is up to and what Steve is doing. She tries to stay in the moment with Reggie, she taps her foot against the roof to the beat of Stay.

"So. What went wrong at these barbecues, then?" Reggie chuckles a little before rolling over and pointing at a patch of roof higher up.  
"You see how that patch up there is a little lighter in colour compared to the rest of the roof?" Madeline nods her head.  
"Yeah."  
"Well, let's just say some parts of this house are older than the others." Madeline laughs extremely hard, only just managing to say.  
"You're telling me... that you burnt a hole in the roof of the house? Hahaha!" Madeline rolls around on the roof, laughing uncontrollably.  
"It's not funny. We had to call the Fire Department and everything." This only makes Madeline laugh harder. "We almost set the bathroom on fire as well." Madeline wipes a tear from her eye, still laughing so hard she can't breathe.   
"Wait. How do you set a bathroom on fire?"   
"You tell me. I have no idea but we almost did." Madeline snorts this time, keeping her cool.

Meanwhile, in the city of New York is someone who wants revenge. Revenge for being thrown in jail, revenge for taking his girl, revenge for just about everything the pair did to him. The first place he goes to is a friend of a friend's apartment. He repeatedly bangs his green knuckles on the door until a woman in her forties answers.   
"Can I help you?"  
"Yes, yes you can Mrs Leeds, you can indeed."

* * *

Peter gets up in the morning like normal, he tries not to think about the events of last night. He tries not to think about her. He grabs an apple on the way out the door, saying his goodbyes to May, completely missing the news on the TV.

He skips his way up the stairs and into the school, waiting at his locker as per the norm is Ned but he doesn't look as happy and cheerful today.  
"Hey, Ned."  
"Hey." He doesn't even lift his head, he just fiddles with his bag strap in his hand.  
"What's wrong?" Ned finally lifts his head, showing his sunken, puffy, red eyes.   
"Last night, someone showed up on our doorstep at about eleven thirty. He hurt my mum before running away. She's in the hospital, Peter." Peter stands in shock, unsure of what to do.  
"Why are you here? You should be with her, not here. Are the police involved?"  
"Yeah, they're trying to pull CCTV tapes and all that. My mum wanted me to come in today and not put her above my education." Peter smiles sadly at Ned.  
"She'll be alright though, right? She's a fighter, right?"  
"Yeah. I guess." Peter puts his hand on Ned's shoulder.  
"Hey, she's going to be okay. None of this was your fault."

The pair walks to their first class together, unaware of the attack about to happen on the school.

* * *

Madeline has just woken up, she was back in her room. Alone. She finished off the previous night by dancing and making out with Reggie in a cupboard.

She feels crap for it, she regrets going out to the party. She would have rather stayed in cleaned her apartment or gone out to do hero work.

She decides to get up and get dressed, she puts on a baggy blue top and a pair of black leggings.

Madeline walks into the kitchen, only to realise she doesn't have any food.   
"Dammit." She grabs her trainers and a green hoodie, stuffing her purse in the pouch. Natasha had been showing Madeline how to hide in plain sight, she looked as if she is going for a run. Madeline puts her hood up and grabs an empty water bottle.

She wanders down the street, looking for a shop where she can get anything to eat. The last thing she ate was pizza from the party, it was cold and gross.

She spots a small cafe that does hot food across the street from where she is, she quickly walks to the nearest crossing. Jogging her way across the street, she can already smell something tasty in there.

A small bell above the door alerts everyone in the cafe to someone coming in. Madeline joins the queue of two people, scanning the menu chalkboards above the counter. She decides on getting an egg-mayo sandwich and a bottle of coke to go with it. As she checks her purse to see how much money she has, someone turns the TV up. 

"Breaking News. The Green Goblin is back. A breach at a secure Stark facility caused the Goblin to get his glider back. He appears to be flying over Midtown." Madeline's head snaps up to the TV screen, a live feed of Green Goblin back on his glider, flying over the city. As he's going, he's holding something orange that Madeline recognises instantly as a bomb. There are small explosions coming from outside the cafe.

Madeline tucks her purse away and runs from the cafe, people are running from all directions. Madeline sprints across the street and back to her apartment. She turns invisible as she flies up the stairwell.

She bursts into her apartment and grabs her mask, forgetting to take her purse out of her hoodie.

* * *

Peter and Ned are sat in Chemistry together, both taking notes as the teacher rambles on. Peter hears something make a crashing sound, nobody else hears it. The hairs on his arms and back of his neck all stand on end, alerting him to some kind of danger.

He keeps a cool face, not wanting to look suspicious in class. This goes completely out the window when the windows smash, sending glass over the whole classes head, from an explosion. Everyone gets up and sprints for the door, only to find it won't open.

The students brush themselves down and a maniacal laugh comes from outside the windows. Peter feels chills go down his spine, he knows that laugh.

The board and its rider come into view, Peter knows exactly who it is on the back of the board. Nobody else does, however, leaving them to cower in fear at the back of the class.

Peter sticks close to Ned, he's not losing another friend to this monster. Goblin looks around the room, scanning each students' face, looking for Peter.  
"Mr Parker, where are you hiding?" Flash instantly threw Peter under the bus, or rather, the glider.  
"He's here! Take him!" Peter swears under his breath for a moment.  
"Flash, what the hell?" All his fellow classmates start yelling at Flash as the Goblin gets closer to all of them. Peter stands from where he was hiding behind a desk and walks toward the Goblin.  
"Peter! Peter! Get back here!" Ned hisses at him, Goblin takes note of his presence.  
"Ah, Mr Leeds. How is your mother doing?" Ned freezes, terrified of what the Goblin can do.

"Peter! Get back here! He's dangerous!" Peter signals for Ned to stop and keep quiet.  
"What do you want?"  
"What I want is for you to die-" Goblin is suddenly thrown backwards by an unseen force. Everyone in the classroom sits in anticipation, wondering what could have caused it.

"Not today, Goblin." Madeline pops her head up from the bottom of one of the window frames. "Hey everyone." The students start cheering and clapping, Madeline lands next to Peter.  
"We're not out of the woods yet." She whispers to him, he nods his head in agreement.

"Alright, everyone out. Evacuate the school and alert the authorities."   
"We can't, the door's blocked." Madeline flicks her wrist and the door flies open, all the students flee from the room, all except Peter.  
"Thanks, I don't know what I would've done if you weren't here." Not a minute later, the fire alarm goes off.   
"You're very welcome but you weren't exactly a damsel in distress. You would've thought of something, you're like the smartest guy I know."   
"Like? Like? Who's smarter than me?" Madeline scoffs.  
"Myself and MJ, of course." Just as Peter thinks Madeline is flirting with him, which, she is, he sees Green Goblin coming back there way.

"Look out!" He grabs her and pushes them to the ground, Green Goblin flies over their heads. Peter eyes his bag, it's under his desk. Madeline catches on and pulls the bag closer to the pair.

Peter strips out of his clothes, throwing them into his bag as he goes, before putting his suit on. Madeline tries to fend off Green Goblin but he's too high in the sky for her powers to reach. Peter swings out of the windows, shooting web after web at Green Goblin but nothing seems to be working. Madeline throws balls of air at Green Goblin, trying to make him fall off the glider but he keeps dodging all her shots.

Peter takes this as an opportunity to build up momentum by swinging around a nearby lamppost, heading feet-first toward Green Goblin. Unfortunately, he sees this coming and pulls out a blade that only he himself sees.

As Peter gets closer to him, Green Goblin angles himself so he can stab Peter. He swings the blade around, catching Peter in the lower abdomen. Peter lets go of the web he had and falls to the floor, clutching his injured side.

Madeline sees him fall, unsure of why until she sees the way he's clutching his side.   
"Peter?" She mumbles as she climbs through the broken windows. Goblin tries to attack her she pushes him as far back as she possibly can with her powers.

She rolls Peter over so he is on his back, quickly removing his mask, she sees he's still awake and alive.  
"Don't do that! I thought you'd died or something!" She punches him in the arm and he winces a little, smiling all the same though.   
"Aww. Does someone have feelings for me?" She punches him again, this time much harder. He genuinely winces at it. He still has his hand over the stab wound, unaware of how bad it actually is.

"C'mon, we have to get you back to class before everyone notices you're missing." She helps him up but when he starts wincing and bending over.   
"Peter? What is it? What's wrong?" He removes his hand and reveals a large blood stain just below his ribs. The blood continues to drip down his suit as Madeline tries to get him back inside the school.

"Say goodbye to him whilst you still can." Madeline turns and sees Green Goblin heading back their way again. She knows she can't support Peter in his drowsy state and fend Green Goblin off. She slips Peter's mask back on his face again and lays him down on the floor before standing protectively over him.

Green Goblin gets closer to the pair, aiming a bomb at Madeline. Madeline prepares to take a hit but is takes by surprise when an electrified net is thrown over Green Goblin.

"Stand down!" Armed soldiers come running onto the turf. Madeline turns back to Peter, picking his head up to check his pulse. It's weakening by the second and the pool of blood surrounding him is getting bigger.  
"Help him! Please!" She pleas to the armed soldiers as they run over to the pair.

It's as if the world goes in slow-motion for Madeline, they pull her away from him. She screams and kicks, telling them not too. They lift him up by hooking their arms under his armpits, they throw Madeline in the back of a van. She watches as they slam the doors.

The last thing she sees is Tony checking over Peter before he glares at her. Madeline, knowing that there's no point in trying to escape


	5. Chapter 5

Madeline feels the truck start to move, she sits with her back against one of the walls. She knows that she's in trouble now that Tony's caught her. It's a long journey to wherever they now are, Madeline spent the whole thing curled in a ball, resting her left cheek on her knees. 

The doors to the van swing open, catching Madeline by surprise, making her blink out of visibility for a moment. She looks at who opened the doors and sees multiple sets of armed guards.  
"Get out." Madeline stands, hands above her head to show she's not going to fight back. They grab both her wrists and pull them behind her back before clicking a pair of handcuffs around them. 

She is walked through a dark car park and up to a pristine white door. The door opens automatically and Madeline walks into a large room. She walks in without a second thought, the door slides and locks behind her and the handcuffs fall from her wrists. 

In the centre of the room is a table with two chairs, one on either side of the table. She walks over to them and takes a seat on one side. She knows she's being watched, they haven't exactly tried to hide the camera. 

On the other side of the screen playing the video of her back is Tony, really, he should've called General Ross but he knew she'd be thrown in the Raft faster than he could even say anything. He leans on the back of a chair, watching her contently. He would be with Peter but he's in surgery. 

He can't help but wonder. Wonder how the hell she's alive and kicking the way she was in the school car park. He watches her as she stares at her hands, knowing that she's waiting for him to interrogate her.

He walks over to the door and unlocks it, Madeline doesn't move as he walks in and sits opposite her. She doesn't lift her head to make eye contact with him, she just sits in silence opposite him, waiting for the questions to start rolling in.

"Peter's in surgery, he's going to be alright. Harry is in lockup as well, a safer and well-guarded jail cell. State of the art. His suit has been destroyed-"  
"I thought it had been destroyed anyway. I meant that's what you told the media." Rudeness dripping off of her tongue as she speaks.   
"Rhodes." She finally lifts her head to look him in the eye. She sees that he hasn't slept in a while, she remembers how she used her powers to help save him.   
"How is he?" She asks with genuine concern and sympathy lacing her voice.  
"He's fine, adjusting to rehab to get him walking again. Nothing I came up with was properly comfortable for him so-"  
"So you kept the suit to try and help him. It heals wounds, I saw the board in action when I... y'know..."  
"Died?" Madeline nods her head, looking back at her hands again.

"Speaking of which. How? How are you here?" Madeline's breathing takes a sharp rise in speed as she thinks of what to say.  
"I don't know. I remember waking up in a hospital bed, Steve at my side. It wasn't real though, I know it wasn't. I reached out to him but he disappeared before I could properly touch him. Everything went hazy and I fell back to sleep again." Tony watches the girl closely as she does something he recognises as one of her traits, she pulls on the end of her sleeves, clearly embarrassed by telling him the story. 

"But that doesn't explain how you're here in New York. Does Steve know you're alive? Does T'Challa?" Madeline gives Tony a weird look.  
"Who's T'Challa? I don't know if Steve knows. After my weird dream thing, I woke up on my bed in my apartment. There was a Ferris wheel ornament, I picked it up and on the bottom of it, it read 'Merry Christmas, Madeline. Love, Peter'. Since then, I have been trying to collect my life back up again. Everything seems so... scattered. I didn't remember anything, I didn't remember Peter or you. I saw on the news that a local girl had died and when I saw my photo, I went straight to her - my grave. Sat, in the dirt, was something shiny. I picked it up and it was the ring that Peter had given me just a month earlier."  
"So, you've been around for at least a month. Why not come here? Get help from me?"

"Because I didn't even know who you were until like last week. I only realised who Peter was when I looked at all the photos in my apartment and it hit me like ton of bricks." Tony watches as the girls play with her hair. 

A sudden beeping pulls the pair's attention away from one another. Tony stands up and heads to the door but turns back at the last second.  
"I'll be right back. Someone will bring some food in for you." Madeline nods her head.  
"Thanks." 

The beeping stops as a doctor steps into the control room holding a clipboard.  
"How is he?"   
"He's fine. There won't even be a scar. We are lucky he heals faster than most, else we'd been in a much more serious situation. He should wake up soon."  
"And the bedding arrangements?"  
"They have been met. Just you asked." Tony nods at the doctor and he leaves the room. Tony watches Madeline as she is brought some food, he turns away, toward the medical ward.

Madeline picks up the apple she has been given before taking a bite out of it, she opens her bottle of water and takes a sip. She can't help but worry about Peter, he was in very bad shape when they ripped her away from him. She wants to get to him but she knows she'd be shot on sight if she were to leave. She rapidly taps her fingers against the table, unable to sit still. 

Stupidly, she decides to try and escape. Thinking it won't work, Madeline turns invisible. The door Tony went through opens instantly with a guard coming in straight away. Madeline stands from her chair, slips by him and looks for the medical ward, where Peter is just waking up.

Tony walks into Peter's private room, he sees the machines that Peter is hooked up to. Luckily, on this occasion, it was only a heart monitor and breathing tube that went around his face and into his nostrils. 

As Tony closes the door behind him, Peter starts to stir in his sleep. He moans a little as he opens his eyes before having to blink the bright lights away.  
"Good afternoon, how are you feeling?" Tony sits on the edge of the bed by Peter's feet.  
"Sore but okay, I guess." He tries to sit up a little, only to find a pair of handcuffs on his left wrist, gives Tony a weird look as he pulls against them.

"Oh, right, yeah. They're to stop you from doing something stupid, like trying to stand up too quickly. Or you know... try and find her."

"Where is she? Is she here? Is she okay?" Tony sits and waits for his questions to end.

"She fine, she's here. She's in a cell-"  
"A cell? Why?"  
"Becuase she's legally dead, Peter. She can't just show up out of the blue like this with no explanation. I need to make some calls but I'll be back. Get some rest." Tony walks to the door with his phone in his hand.   
"Wait. Mr Stark. Can you at least undo the handcuffs?"  
"Nope." With that, Tony left Peter in silence. 

Peter hits his head against his pillow out of anger, if he really wanted to he could break free from the handcuffs but he knows Tony has all sorts of security systems in place to stop things like that from happening. He turns to the window on his left and sees it has started to rain, he watches as the raindrops race down the window one by one. 

Soon the window becomes steamed up from the warmth of the room, he still patiently watches the rain. He is startled when a nurse walks into the room, he takes Peter's pulse and checks Peter's stitches, leaving the door open the whole time.

Meanwhile, Madeline freely walks around the facility, looking for the medical ward but struggling as there are no signs anywhere. She sees doctors and nurses wandering around but can't see anywhere that looks like a surgical theatre or a hospital room. She follows a male nurse into their staffroom. She watches as he puts down his clipboard of patients names. Madeline scans the list until she finds Peter's name and room number. It's surprising how many peopel are in the medical ward at this one time, probably agents who have gotten injured whilst on missions. 

Madeline waits until someone comes into the staffroom before she leaves, it'll be weird if she just opened the door whilst invisible. Another nurse came along and took the clipboard before leaving, Madeline trailing close behind him.

He mutters to himself as he walks along.  
"Parker, room 47. Stab wou- ooh, stab wound." Madeline follows with haste, wanting to see ho Peter s doing already. 

When they get to Peter's room, the nurse opens the door and Madeline slips in. She sees a pale Peter laying on his side with a hospital gown on. She sees he's in fact handcuffed to the bed, she can't help but giggle a little at the sight of it. She knows he'd do anything to see her again so it was a smart choice for Tony to handcuff him to the bed. 

She watches as the nurse lifts up his gown to reveal a large cut covered with stitches just below his ribcage. She can't help but become saddened by the sight of it, she turns away, tears filling her eyes. She puts her hand against the glass window, forgetting that she is invisible, making her hand print show up. 

Peter lowers the gown with his right hand and out the corner of his eye, he sees a handprint appear out of nowhere. The nurse doesn't notice the print on the window and goes about checking his clipboard for anything he needs to do.   
"Alright Mr Parker, one of us will be back in a few hours to check on you again. For now though, get some rest." The nurse closes the door behind him as he leaves.

Peter turns back to the window and watches as a tear materialises from nowhere and hits the window ledge.  
"Mads." Peter only mutters it but it's enough for Madeline to hear. She starts sobbing aloud as he speaks to her.  
"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay." He tries to reach over to her, forgetting the handcuffs are on his wrist. He watches as more tears fall but she still doesn't show herself to him.   
"Mads. Please show yourself, I'm okay. Really, I'm fine, it's just a minor scratch."  
"Minor scratch? Peter, you were stabbed." She has turned around and become visible now, tears staining her face.  
"You're not okay. Not yet anyway. Just don't strain yourself okay." Madeline reaches over and hugs Peter, he hugs her back just as tightly. Neither of the pair wants to stop hugging the other, they're scared to let the other go again. Peter suddenly rolls over, taking Madeline with him. Making her lay on the other side of him. Having broken the handcuffs, Peter puts his arms around Madeline's waist and snuggles his face into the crook of her neck. She giggles in response and tries to get closer to him to really embrace him, his breath tickles her neck as he slowly drifts off into a deep sleep.

Madeline slowly drifts off too, she finally feels at peace with being alive again. All she wanted was cuddles with Peter. 

Meanwhile, Tony was trying to reach T'Challa but couldn't get through. He considered pulling out the flip phone that Steve had given him two months ago and calling him for answers but as he went to do so he was interrupted. 

"Sir, the girl is missing. She's escaped, just as planned." Tony nodded his head and pulled up surveillance from Peter's hospital room. He smiles as he sees the two of them asleep, he sees how happy they make each other. 

Tony stops watching the tapes and pulls up the server for Midtown High before making a few adjustments to it. Smiling at his work, he hit print and walks to the nearest office. 

Grabbing the paperwork, he checks it over to make sure it's in proper order. He buys food and new clothes for the apartment as he walks toward the medical ward, printing and picking it all up as he goes along.

He opens Peter's door only to see Peter smiling at the girl next to him. When Peter spots Tony, his grip on Madeline gets a little stronger and his smile drops. Tony puts his hands up in a friendly way, trying to tell Peter that he means no harm. 

He walks over and drops the papers on Peter's legs before leaving again. Peter picks the papers up and reads through them. He sees that Tony has got Madeline back into Midtown High and brought her loads of new stuff for her apartment. Peter smiles, knowing she is going to love it. 

All the while, the students of Midtown have been filing back into school again to collect their belongings. Flash walks into the chemistry room to collect his bag when he spots something, a purse. He grabs it, thinking it belongs to some in his class, and checks to see if there's any form of ID inside. He pulls out a black card that has the Avengers logo spot varnished on it. He shines it in the light and on the other side sees Madeline picture with her real name, family ties and alter ego. Flash smirks to himself as he tucks the card in his back pocket, throwing the purse back on the floor, he slings his bag over his shoulder. 

Madeline's eyes flutter open and she remembers where she is. Peter gently strokes her hair, as she turns to face him.  
"Hey, beautiful."  
"Hey, cheesy," Madeline smirks at him as she sits up properly. She spots the paperwork on the bedside table, she looks at Peter and he nods at her. She picks it up and flicks through it, seeing receipts from online stores and a logo that she instantly recognises as being from Midtown High. Smiling she turns back to Peter and he nods his head, she engulfs him in a tight hug. He groans slightly and Madeline backs off a little.  
"Sorry, I just got so excited." He pulls her back in for another, more gentle hug. 

"Ahh, you are both awake, perfect timing." Tony walks into the room and the pair sits up. Peter puts his arm around Madeline's shoulder and Madeline puts her head on his shoulder.   
"So, I'm guessing you have read through the paperwork, right?" Madeline nods, glancing at it.  
"Only briefly."   
"Well, I'll give you the run down. From next Monday, Maddie Smith will be back at Midtown High with her old classmates again. Your excuse for being away is going to be that your grandmother fell ill and you had to see her before she sadly passed." Madeline nods her head, taking in every word intently.  
"The apartment is yours again, I have restocked to cupboards with food and a few recipe books too. I have bought some new clothes for you as well, they will all be delivered tonight. As for you Peter." Peter takes his attention off of Madeline and to Tony.

"Your aunt is waiting for you. Just... don't tell her about the stitches. She'd flip a table if she found out, she thinks you came here with me after we'd taken Harry back into custody again. You are both free to go." 

* * *

After the pair had gotten out of bed and Peter had gotten changed. They walked to the front of the facility to find Happy in a car waiting for them.

"Hey, Happy. How you have been?" Happy just shrugs as the pair gets in the back of the car together. 

The ride back to Queens is one spent in laughter and joy, Peter tells Madeline what she has missed at school and how ned keeps spilling everything in chemistry before trying to blame it on someone else.   
"That's Ned for you." 

As they arrived at Peter's apartment, Madeline took a deep breath in.  
"What does May know of my situation?" Peter took her hand as they walked up to the door together.  
"She thinks you moved away because of the custody case. At least, that's what I told her."  
"Ok." 

The ride in the lift was a slow one and Madeline couldn't help but feel worried. She loves May but was worried about May asking questions that Madeline wouldn't have answers to. 

Peter opens his apartment door, sticking his head around first to see if May is there and just their luck, she is.  
"Hey May, look who's come back to New York." Peter stood out of the way so Madeline could walk in. Madeline takes slow steps in as the apartment comes into view.

"Maddie. It's so good to see you again." May instantly engulfs her in a hug and Madeline takes in May's familiar comforting scent. She feels at home with the Parkers once again.


	6. Chapter 6

After embracing each other for so long, Peter and Maddie go to Peter's room. 

"Door open please!"  
"May!" Madeline snorts in laughter as Peter pulls her by the wrist. Peter closes his bedroom door as Madeline takes off her oversized hoodie.

As soon as Peter and Madeline are alone together, Peter edges closer to her. Madeline feels guilty for the night before, making out with Reggie in a cupboard. She puts her hands on Peter's chest to stop him.

"What? What is it? Are you okay?" She walks away from him and takes a seat on his bed before patting the space next to her. He joins her, worried about what she is going to say.

"Okay, so last night, I didn't do my hero stuff."  
"Me neither."  
"Instead, I went to a party and I feel so guilty because..." Peter leans in, waiting for her response.  
"Because...?"  
"I made out with someone I met just an hour and a half before." Peter smiles and pulls her in for a tight hug.  
"I don't care. You can make out with anyone you want, it's not like we are dating like before." Madeline hugs him gently, not wanting to cause harm to the stitches. 

Madeline shrieks as Peter pushes her on the bed and lays on top of her, nuzzling his face into her neck. She feels him kiss the operation scar, she can't help but smile at him doing this. Peter takes a moment to catch his breath, leaving shivers down Madeline's spine.  
"You know you're beautiful. Scars and all." Peter leans back in again. Madeline can feel him leaving small bites all down her collarbone.

"Peter... May is outside. What if she-"  
"Hey, so what do- oh, I'm sorry. I'll come back later." May backs out of the room, covering her eyes as she goes. Madeline goes bright red in the face whilst Peter just keeps his head hidden in his bedsheets. May goes to close the door but sticks her head around for one last word.  
"Use protection!"  
"MAY!" Peter slides off of Madeline and holds his head in his hands. Madeline rolls on his bed, laughing extremely hard. 

"Why are you laughing so hard? Huh? Huh? Huh?" Peter starts tickling Madeline and she rolls around uncontrollably on his bed.  
"No, Peter! Stop! Stop it!" She fights back by pushing Peter away from her. He falls off the edge of his bed, landing on his ass. Madeline leans over the edge of the bed to make sure he is okay but Peter just pulls her on top of him so she is straddling his waist.

"As I was saying- you two could at least wait until I'm at work."   
"MAY! You have the worst timing ever." Madeline climbs off of Peter and tries to hide his red face. Peter is just as red in the face as Madeline is.  
"As I was saying, what do you two want for dinner?"   
"I don't mind. Peter?"  
"Thai?"

* * *

All three of the group sit around a small square table together eating the remainder of their Thai food. 

"So, Madeline. Did you hear about what happened today at the school?"  
"Oh, I did. Thank god Spiderman and Aura were there." May nods her head strongly in agreement, Madeline and Peter share a smirk and a look together. Madeline checks the time and sees it's almost ten thirty.

"Thank for tonight and today but I should really be going. I haven't unpacked any of my belongings in my old apartment and we have school tomorrow." Madeline reaches into her pouch for her purse, only to realise it's not in there.  
"Oh, sh - I'm sorry May, I don't have my purse on me. I'll give Peter the money tomorrow." May shakes her head.  
"Oh, no. It's fine hun, we'll cover it." Madeline stands from her chair thanking the pair for the dinner before heading to the door.

"I'll walk you, it's only a short walk." Peter joins you as you leave. Kissing May on the cheek beforehand.

They walk down the street together, hand-in-hand, fingers intertwined. Every so often they'd catch each other staring, they'd both blush and look at their feet. 

By the time they got to Madeline's apartment, the pair had blushed at least ten or more times.  
"Thanks for walking me back. I have to go and find my flipping purse now, god let it be in there."  
"Why are you so worried? I mean, I know it's got money in it but what else is in it that's so important?"  
"Steve gave me this Avengers ID card. It would've let me access any part of the building and it has my true identity on it and my alter ego. It's got everything on there - god. I'm screwed if someone finds it." Madeline runs her hands through her hair and tugs on it ever so slightly. Peter takes her hands in his.   
"Hey. It's okay. We'll find it, okay?" He cups her face with his right hand, tucking her hair behind her ear with his left hand. She nods her head and they both lean in, letting their foreheads touch. 

"Okay." Madeline kisses him on the cheek and turns to head into her apartment building.  
"I'll see you tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, goodnight Madeline."   
"Goodnight Peter." 

Madeline walks away and toward the lifts to get to her apartment. She forgot what it's like to have an actual apartment in her name. She walks into the lift smiling brightly, she loves being around Peter. She can't remember a time when he didn't make her smile or laugh or just happy in general.

She walks up to her apartment door, forgetting that she technically doesn't have a key to her apartment. She goes to open the door but sighs deeply as she remembers, checking up and down the hallway to see if it's clear. She walks over to the window on the end of the hallway and opens it.

Climbing out of the window, she flies around the corner of the building. Forgetting to turn invisible, she thinks no one can see her but down on the street, someone's watching her intently. 

She opens her apartment doors and walks into her bedroom, taking her jumper off as she does. She kicks her shoes off an walks toward the kitchen to look for her purse. 

"Y'konw, you could've just knocked." Madeline jumps out of her skin as she turns to the couch, she sees Tony sat in one of his classic three-button suits.   
"I didn't know you were here. Anyway, what are you doing here?"  
"Making sure you'd get home alright. Which you have, here's your apartment key back. Have fun at school." Tony walks to the door with a smirk on his face.  
"You could not have said that more sarcastically!" Madeline yells to him as he closes the door. 

* * *

Madeline walks up to her locker, seeing Peter on the other side of the hall. They had new students in but she only had to move a locker down, making her closer to Peter. 

She goes to open the door but a hand stops her.  
"You look weirdly happy to be back." She turns to Peter and smiles.  
"Well, I am happy." Peter scoffs but tries to hold back his laughter.  
"You're happy to be at school. Please. I know you're lying." Madeline rolls her eyes as she opens her locker a little faster than usual, causing it to hit Peter in the face. 

"Ow."  
"Oops, sorry." Madeline looks in her locker and sees a small note, she picks it up and opens it.

'I know who you are...' is all that is printed on it, along with a photocopy of her ID card. Peter is still rubbing his sore nose on the other side of the door, unaware of the note. Madeline's heart hits the roof as it beats uncontrollably, she glances around the hall but no one seems to be acting out of the ordinary. Her breathing becomes rapid and she feels sweat on her brow. 

Trying to act natural, she takes out what books she needs and closes the door again. Stuffing the note in her bag as she does so. Madeline doesn't want to worry Peter as she knows he'll flip out and tell Tony ASAP. Instead, she leans against the locker and looks him dead in the face.  
"What do you have first?" Peter thinks for a moment before answering.   
"Algebra, kill me now. What do you have?" Madeline pulls out her timetable, look ing for the day and time.  
"English, ugh." With that, the bells goes and everyone heads off to class.

Once the hall is almost clear, someone walks to Madeline's locker and puts another note in through the slats. 

* * *

By the time lunch had rolled around, Madeline had had three notes in her locker. All of which had had the same photo of her ID card on them and all of which ended up stuffed into Madeline's bag without a care. She has read them beforehand, her stress level climbing with each note.

'Miss Rogers, are you sure you are ready for the world to know who you are? Because I don't think you are.'

She went back to her locker at the end of lunch to get her books out for chemistry. She found another note, this time it was signed with the writer's initials and a phone number.

'C'mon baby, you know I'll do it. You have twenty-four hours to respond or I'll release your information. E.T'

Madeline thinks the note over as she swaps her books in and out of her locker.   
"We have chemistry next with Flash." Madeline nods her head as they walk down the hallway together.

When they get into class, Madeline spots Flash smirking at her in an evil way from across the class. Madeline brushes it off as being nothing and tries to find her old seat.

"Hey look." Peter reaches under the table and pulls out Madeline's purse.  
"Thanks." She throws it in her bag as she pulls out her other books for class.

* * *

Madeline couldn't stop the feeling of being watched washing over her throughout the duration of class. Every time she'd turn and look, no one would be staring at her.

She walked to her locker and opened it for the last time and for the last time during the day, a note fell out.

'C'mon Mads, you really wanna hang around with Penis Parker?' Madeline knew instantly who the messages were from. She opens her bag, digging frantically for her purse.

She pulls it out, ripping it open and searches for her card only for it to be missing. Sweat grows on her forehead as she looks down the hall for Flash.

He leans against a set of lockers with a dirty smirk on his face. She slams her locker shut, looking for Peter, who is still at his locker with Ned by his side.

Madeline storms down the hall at Flash, grabbing him by the arm, she pushes him into an empty classroom.  
"What do you want?" Flash smirks more and chuckles.  
"I like this. You begging me for mercy."  
"I'm not begging anyone for anything." Flash laughs and walks toward the door but when he reaches for the handle there's a bubble around it.   
"Whatever it is you want from me, you're not getting it, y'know why? Because all I want from you is my card back." Madeline waves her hand and Flash's wallet comes out of his pocket. Flash laughs, making Madeline worried. She searches through his wallet only to find nothing. 

"Oh, I don't keep it on me. That would be too easy."  
"What do you want?"  
"Meet me tonight, at seven on the dot." Flash leaves a scrunched up piece on the table before walking out the door. Madeline grabs it instantly and unfolds it, she reads the address, it's only a few blocks away from her apartment. He must know where she lives.  
"Oh, and if you tell your little Spider friend, I'll have you killed on sight." He slams the door behind him, leaving Madeline to tremble.

Madeline shoves the note in her back pocket and storms back out to the hallway. She instantly stops as she sees Peter stood at the end of the hallway, waiting for her. She puts on a fake smile and walks toward him.

"Hey. Sorry, I had to speak to a teacher about homework. You ready to go?"   
"Yeah. It's fine."

* * *

As Madeline gets ready to meet Flash, she doesn't dress up because she knows how Flash thinks. She throws on a baggy shirt that goes past her mid-thighs with a pair of black leggings and a navy blue pair of running shoes. 

She leaves at ten to seven and heads down the street, her mind is racing with the possibilities of what could happen when she meets Flash. Will he demand something from her that she can't give him without getting into some kind of trouble? Or will her give her the card back? No. It's not going to be that easy, not with Flash. After all, he said he'd kill her on sight. He doesn't have the guts surely, he'd probably have someone else do his dirty work for him.

Madeline rounds the corner, she sees Flash leaning against the side of the small cafe that resides there. He flips her ID card between his fingers and smirks at her.  
"Oh, hello. Want this back?" Madeline goes to snatch it but Flash moves his arms out of reach.  
"No, no, no. I still want something from you, well not from you. From him." Madeline turns around when she hears the sound of an engine. 

Before she realises what it actually is, she is scooped up by it. The wind brushes her hair against her face as she tries to look at what it is that picked her up. She shrieks as a pair of glowing green eyes stare back at her, whatever they are holding her in gets tighter around her ribs. 

Madeline groans through her gritted teeth as one of her ribs cracks under the pressure of the claws she's being held in.   
"I wonder how much we'll get for you, little missy." Madeline suddenly jolts forward as they stop mid-air.   
"The only thing you're gonna get is a beating, pal." Madeline tries to see who it is but can't move.  
"Ah, so you did tell your little spider-friend, I thought my pal Flash told you not to. Well, I think he explained what would happen if you." Suddenly Madeline is released from the claws and sent plummeting toward a lake. Madeline hadn't even realised they'd been flying over the city.

"MADS!" Madeline now realised it was Peter who was coming after her. She hits the water so harshly that it knocks her unconscious. She floats in the water, not moving, not breathing. With her lungs filling up with water with every moment that passes.

Peter is getting up from being knocked into a brick wall, he sees the person in the metal suit flyway into the distance. Without Madeline in his grasp. Peter instantly snaps back to reality as he realises she's missing.

He runs forward, shooting webs onto the sides of buildings, propelling himself above the streets so he can see better.  
"MADS! MADS, PLEASE!" He swings toward a nearby lake, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Until someone dives in at the edge of the water, catching Peter's attention. He swings toward the lake, seeing no one around and no clothes or bags, Peter can't make sense of it. 

Until a body is thrown onto the shore a few feet away from him, he recognises her instantly.  
"Mads? Mads!" He rolls her over and is horrified to find water dripping out of her mouth.  
"Kid, move!" Peter is shoved out of the way by someone. He falls flat on his face, he turns himself over and sees the person giving her CPR. Peter tries to see who is giving her CPR but can't in the light.

Madeline suddenly gasps but instead ends up coughing uncontrollably, it looks as if she is having some kind of seizure.  
"Mads!" Peter crawls over to her and holds her head up a little. Peter watches as she rolls over and empties her lungs of water. Peter looks up at who saved, only to see her father.

"Cap-Captain Rogers, sir, wh-what are you doing here?" Steve gives Peter a brief side eye before turning back to Madeline.  
"Well, clearly my daughter can't handle herself." Madeline regains consciousness and pushes herself away from Steve and toward Peter, still coughing.  
"She can handle herself just fine. You weren't here over the past month and a half, you don't know what's happened." Steve gives Peter more stinkeye as Madeline sits up properly, still coughing slightly. 

"C'mon, we're leaving." He grabs Madeline roughly by the arm, pulling her up and dragging her along until she fights back.  
"No, I want to stay here."  
"You can't, we are leaving. End of."  
"No, not end of. I want to stay here with Peter and go to school-"  
"There are schools where we are going-"  
"Wakanda? You really think I want to go back there after what you did to me?"  
"I saved you-"  
"You brought me back from the dead with no explanation. I couldn't remember anything and when I did, I was angry. I didn't ask to come back. You have personal experience with it, you were brought back seventy years later than your time. How did you like? I bet you didn't and I didn't like mine but now that I'm back with people who care about me and are my friends. The entire time I have known you since you brought me back, you seem so pissed off at me. I can not figure out why-" Steve snaps, grabbing Madeline by the shoulders, yelling in her face and scaring her in the process.  
"Because you died!" Madeline tries to take a few steps back but it's hard when Steve has her shoulders in his hands.   
"You went into that building and died, I wasn't there to help you. The both of you." He looks at Peter, who has now taken his mask off.  
"Either of you. I'm your father, should have been there but instead, I got into a fight with a fellow Avenger and wasn't there when you got back from being captured. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He pulls her in for a hug and she hugs him back. Peter just sit awkwardly in the background until Madeline reaches her hand out to him and takes hold of it kindly before being yanked into the hug by Madeline.

They sit and embrace each other for what feels like an eternity to them.


	7. Chapter 7

It wasn't until they heard one of Tony's suits heading their way that they broke up from the hug. Peter watched as Steve kissed Madeline on the top of the head before disappearing into the night, leaving Madeline behind to watch as her fugitive father left her. Again.

Peter puts his mask back on as Tony approaches. He shines a torch in both Madeline and Peter's face.

"What happened?"

"I was using my powers when something hit me - I think it was an umbrella or something - it caused me to stop and fall out of the air. I hit the water so hard that I was knocked unconscious and I took some water into my lungs. Peter saved me. Other than that, I'm fine." Tony nods his head at her and looks to Peter.

"How much water did she take in?"

"I don't know. A lot I think." Madeline glares at him, knowing that Tony will want to do some tests. Tony checks the time, 07:17 pm, sighing as he does.

"It's too late to go to the facility now but I'm sure a hospital around here will let me pay them off for a couple of quick tests." Madeline groans loudly.

"I'm fine now. I don't need to go to the hospital."

"You might still have water in your lungs and god knows how long you were out for, what if you have brain damage?" Madeline, being too tired to argue, gives in and walks toward the road.

"FRIDAY, send a vehicle to pick us up."

"Yes, boss." Peter gets up and walks along the road with them. It doesn't take long for a car to come speeding around the corner and pick the pair up.

"Peter you head home, she'll be all right."

"No, I want to come with you. Make sure you're all right." Madeline shakes her head.

"Hey, I'll text you the updates, all right? I'll be fine, go home." Madeline gets in the car along with Tony. They speed down the street, leaving Peter to stand at the edge of the road by himself.

He watches as the car disappears into the distance before trudging home. He walks back the same way but freezes as her spots Flash, still arrogantly spinning the card between his fingers. Peter feels rage burn in his veins as he marches up to Flash.

"Hey, that's not yours." Peter shoots a web, ripping it out of Flash's hands, catching him off guard.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Spiderman, nice job... not catching her that is." Peter starts walking away, knowing not to pick a fight with him.

"Who are you anyway? I mean, maybe I know you. Perhaps you are a friend of mine-"

"We are not friends, nor will we ever be.." Peter continues to walk away, only yelling over his shoulder at Flash. "Leave her and her friends alone from now on."

"Or what-?" Peter launches himself at Flash, pinning him against a wall with his arm on his throat.

"You'll deal with me. You leak that information, no one will believe you. Go anywhere near her or her friends again and I'll make sure that you'll never see the light of day again. Got it?" Flash, actually being scared for his life, nods silently. Peter releases him from his grip and angrily walks away, hoping that it'll be the last time he sees Flash around Madeline again.

Meanwhile, in the car on the way to the hospital, Madeline and Tony sit in silence until Tony speaks up.

"So, what actually happened?" Madeline looks at Tony weirdly.

"I told you-"

"No, you told me a lie to try and get out of going to the hospital. Your ribs are clearly cracked and I know that you didn't just fell out of the air. You were dropped." Madeline sighs, wincing as her ribs hurt.

"So, I' going to ask again. What happened?"

"I was scooped up by this guy with massive metal wings and dropped into the lake. He had his claws around me and crushed me ever so slightly. That's the truth."

"Why you?"

"I don't know. Easy target? I was just out for a walk, I needed fresh air. I haven't been feeling great lately."

"Lucky for you Peter is an overprotective moron. But the thing I don't get is who saved you? Because Peter's suit was dry so he didn't go in the water and get you out. Who did?"

"I don't know, I was unconscious." Tony gives up trying to get answers out of her, knowing it was useless.

The car pulls into a parking space at the hospital and the pair gets out together. Tony helps Madeline get into the hospital and to the reception desk.

"Tony Stark, I need a few tests done tonight."

"Of course Mr Stark. I will sort a room out with a doctor as soon as possible."

"Thank you."

The pair takes a seat in the waiting area and sits in silence. Tony picks up a nearby magazine that had him on the cover, he shakes his head as he reads some fake article on himself.

"Mr Stark, if you could follow me please." Madeline stands up first as Tony puts the magazine down.

They follow the nurse through a maze of corridors until they reach a room with a sign on it that reads "PRIVATE ROOM". It has no window in the door but the rest of the room on one side is just windows that are clearly tinted. The atmosphere of the room makes Madeline uncomfortable, it has that clean smell to it, a little too clean. She sits on the bed, still clutching her side from the cracked ribs. Tony sits in the chair next to the bed and plays candy crush on his phone until a doctor comes in.

"Ah, Miss Rogers. What seems to be the problem tonight?" Madeline just looks as Tony for moral support.

"She took in a lot of water after passing out in the water. It looks as if some of her ribs are cracked too, I deduce it happened whilst CPR was being given."

"Deduced? Who are you? Sherlock?" Tony smiles smugly.

"If you could lift your shirt up so I can see the damage."

"I'll wait outside."

After Tony left the room, Madeline lifts her shirt up to just under her bra. The doctor examines her bruises, writing on a chart which ribs he thinks are cracked or potentially broken before letting Tony back into the room.

"I believe there are at least three cracked, potentially one broken but we won't know until we do a scan. I need to sort it out, that may take a while. In the meantime, I will have a nurse help you put a gown on and do a test of your blood for excess liquid." Tony nods his head at everything the doctor has said as Madeline gets comfy on the bed.

The doctor leaves and they wait for the nurse to come along and it's none other than Aunt May. Luckily for her sake, Tony had left the room to get coffee and something to eat.

"What have you done Madeline?"

"Inhaled a lot of water after passing out in a pool and then had CPR done on me which cracked a few ribs. So, y'know, just the usual." May helps Madeline get into the hospital gown before grabbing a small clip from the side of the bed and pulling a matching one out from her pocket. She takes Madeline's left hand and puts the clip on her ring finger before putting the other clip on her earlobe.

"These measure the amount of oxygen in your blood. If they come out lower than expected, we'll know that something is wrong. Have you been short of breath?"

"No." May nods her head and starts heading for the door.

"I'll see where the doctor is with that scan." Madeline smiles and thanks her as she leaves.

Madeline lays down on the bed, feeling the scratchy sheets underneath her as it irritates her skin. She stares at the white ceiling as she thinks about Steve. All she wants is to be with him, she regrets everything she said to him, she regrets getting angry at him. All she wants is to apologise to him and Natasha, just to be able to hold them again and feel like she belongs in a family. Peter suddenly crosses her mind, with him she feels happy but she would feel happier if Steve would accept him and let her be with him.

Tony bursts through the door, coffee cup in hand. He clearly split some of it as he came in as he shakes the liquid off of his hand and hisses through his teeth.

"How's it going then?"

"All right, I don't know how long I have to wear these for though." Madeline gestures to the clips on her finger and ear.

"Well, I think doc is close to getting that scan sorted-"

"Why did you bring me here?" Tony stops sipping his coffee and gives Madeline an odd look. "You know I have better healing than most. So, why bring me here? To make sure I'm not a robot? Or a figure of your imagination?"

Before Tony can answer, the doctor comes back in.

"The scan is set up an ready to go. We do need to up you under, however."

"Why? It's just a chest scan."

"We are going to need to have you laying on your chest, which, will not be comfortable. It would be best if we put you under." Madeline nods along, too lazy to argue.

The doctor walks behind her and fetches a face mask for her, turning on of the gas controls as he does. Madeline lays still as she slowly breathes the gas in, he feels heavy as everything relaxes. Her eyes remain open only for another moment before she fades into the black abyss.

* * *

The next morning, Peter woke up from his deep sleep. After coming back to the apartment and realising that May was still at work, he made himself some instant noodles for dinner and went straight to bed.

He gets up, drowsy puts his trousers on and a plain shirt. Not bother to look at his hair because he knows he'll spend whatever small amount of time he has left before he has to leave. As he walks to the kitchen a very dishevelled May is asleep on the couch. Peter grabs the blanket that has fallen on the floor and lays it back over her to keep her warm. She is still wearing her uniform and her hair has fallen out of the bun it was once in. Peter continues about his day, grabbing a pop tart from the cupboard and running the tap to get a drink. He puts the pop tart in his mouth as he reaches for a glass and runs it under the tap.

As he turns around, the life is scared out of him as May is stood in front of him. He drops the glass and his pop tart in shock at the sight of her. He's never seen her looks so awful after a shift.

"What happened last night?"

"Madeline came into the A and E with Tony. She had taken in a lot of water from swimming or something, it was a mess. They did a scan and I assume she got discharged because I didn't see her again."

"Was she all right though? In her files, did it say anything?" May stops for a moment as the thought passes through her mind.

"I didn't see her files after that. Usually there in the discharged pile but they weren't there." May glances up at the clock and gasps in shock. "My god! Peter, you have to go! You'll miss the train else. Here take this and this." She throws the box of Pop-tarts at him and an old, bruised banana.

Peter sees the time and grabs his bag before racing out the door, yelling "Love you, May!" as the door slams. He races down the hall, past the lifts and straight to the stairwell. Checking to make sure no one is in it, he jumps down the middle and lands on the bottom floor with a loud thump. He races out the door and onto the streets, he runs toward the train station, heart thumping in his chest.

He just manages to skip onto the train in time, he takes an empty seat, looking around for a sign of Madeline but he can't see her. He just assumes she's in a different cart to him.

* * *

Peter waits for her to comes out of the train but she doesn't come. He walks into a school like normal, she was probably on the cart ahead of him so he didn't see her. People are flooding in and out of the doors as Peter gently pushes his way through the crowd to get to his locker.

His eyes light up as Madeline is stood next to it waiting for him.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"I'm good. Everything is all sorted, Tony paid the hospital off and I'm back to normal." Peter opens his locker, smiling uncontrollably at her as he gets his books out.

"Oh my god. What the hell happened to him?" Peter follows where Madeline is looking and sees a very sad looking Flash. He has a bruise on his neck from where Peter pushed his arm against him a little too hard. Peter can't look at him like that because he knows it's his fault, he turns back to his locker. Madeline instantly knows he had something to do with it, she can tell by the guilty look on his face and the way he has tensed up.

"What did you do?" Madeline looks sympathetically at Peter but Peter just can't meet her eyes.

"I just got the card off of him - oh, that reminds me-" Peter pulls the card out from his back pocket and hands it to Madeline. "- I got the card off of him and he... threatened you again so I... may have threatened him ever so slightly."

"Peter... you don't have to do that." She takes his hand in her own and he finally looks her in the eye.

"Okay. I just don't want to see you get hurt again."

"Pft. I'll be fine, I can handle myself you know?" The bell goes and they wander to their class together.

They knew they had to tell Ned something about Madeline being back so they thought "we'll wing it..." to something that should not be "winged".

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, the pair were ready to go home. Neither of them had a good nights sleep, Madeline still had a sore throat from coughing all of the water up. The pair had their heads on the table, sat opposite each other with MJ on Madeline's left and Ned on Peter's right.

"Hey did you two hear that somebody thought they'd seen Captain America in the city?" Both of their heads shot up in surprise.

"What?"

"Someone thinks they saw him in the city late last night but don't buy it for a second. Why on earth would he come back to New York City?" Madeline and Peter share a look for a brief moment before nodding along. Ned knows that Madeline is Steve's daughter, all he knows is that she didn't die. She had to "go on... um, some secret thing...", luckily, Ned brought it. MJ pays no attention to anyone but her cup of coffee and her books.

The pair return their heads to the table, where Peter can see Madeline's leg bouncing up and down out of nerves. He lifts his head and sees she has one hand on the table and the other on her lap. He reaches across and takes it in his own, she jumps as he does this but relaxes when she realises it's him. She squeezes his first to show appreciation, he replies with a squeeze that signals "it's going to be okay".

"God, can you two get a room?" They let go of each other hands and sit up properly, red in the face from being caught by MJ. They catch each other's eyes and smirk together whilst trying to hold laughter back.


	8. Chapter 8

When the pair gets home, they change into their respective superhero costumes for the evening. Together they stop three different robberies and get to eat strawberries that were a gift from someone who's house was robbed. Almost robbed.

Together they are laying on the top of Madeline's roof, watching the stars above them.

"Okay, so do you see what looks kinda like a dress with a thread coming off of it?" Peter squints as hard as he can to try and see where she is pointing but can't. She pats his arm and points to his mask, he slips it over his face and looks again. This time the sky becomes illuminated with the stars, she points again and this time thee constellation lights up through his mask.

"Oh, there. Yeah, I see it."  
"That is Aquarius."  
"As in the star sign?" Madeline nods her head and keeps looking at the stars.

"Oh, oh. That's Leo, the one that looks like a swan. Just below it is, that orange thing, that's Jupiter." Peter watches his screen lights up, showing him where to look. He looks but only for a moment before removing his mask and facing Madeline.

She's still looking at the dark sky above them. Peter rolls over so he's on his side and fulling facing her, she acts as if she doesn't notice. Instead, Madeline smirks at the sky, secretly hoping that he'll do something.

When he does nothing for at least a minute, her eyes finally flicker towards his own.  
"Can I help you with anything, Parker?" She licks her lips as a cool breeze passes over them.  
"Yeah, actually, you can." He leans over and puts an arm on the other side of her head. He leans in and puts a gentle kiss on her lips, only wanting it to last a second, he pulls away. Madeline grabs his neck and pulls him back in again, she deepens the kiss as he moans into it. Peter licks Madeline's bottom lip and she allows access. They fight one another for dominance, Madeline rolls over so she is on top of his waist. Still fighting for dominance, the pair moan and kiss and smile and kiss -

Both of their heads shoot up when they hear what sounds like a helicopter fly toward them. But it's not a helicopter. Madeline freezes as she thinks she recognises the sound of it, Peter feels her tense up at the sound. Together they watch as a pair of green lights flies over them, Madeline relaxes as she sees it go toward JFK.

"It's okay, it wasn't him. You're safe." Madeline looks back at Peter again and realises she turned invisible by mistake. Climbing off of Peter, she becomes visible again and hugs Peter around the neck. Peter strokes her hair to calm her down as she just hides her face in his neck, embarrassed about turning invisible without realising it.

"It's getting late, we should go home, we've school in the morning." She gets up and walks to the edge of the roof, not looking back, all she says is.  
"Bye, Peter." Before stepping off of the roof and hitting her balcony just a few feet below.

Peter gets up and puts his mask back on before swinging back to his apartment.

Meanwhile, in a warehouse across the city, a mechanical suit sits in its place, waiting for its next mission. Its owner kicks scrap pieces his workers have left lying around on the ground.  
"Damn, if that stupid invisible cow hadn't intervened, we'd have that piece we need. Dammit." With one final kick, the piece of tech hits the wall, leaving broken concrete on the floor.  
"Why not just take her out?" He turns angrily to his worker, a stern look on his face.  
"Because I can't see her when she's invisible, you mug." The worker throws his hands up in an apologetic way but his face reads 'I shouldn't have said anything.'  
"Although, she has been seen with that Spider-kid. Maybe, just maybe, I can catch the both of them together." He gets to work on a plan to get the both of them, smiling evilly as he does.

* * *

The next morning Peter is up early, excited to see Madeline again. He throws a bottle of water in his bag, along with some food in case he gets snacky. He grabs his phone from his nightstand and his heart drops for a moment.

Mads 💖  
Don't wait for me on the train, I have gone in early to do work. I'll see you in school at the usual time though. XXX  
Read 07:30

Peter puts his phone in his back pocket and decides to waste the few minutes he has on his hair. Brushing it to try and keep it down but it just pops right back up again. Giving up, he just throws his brush on his bed and leaves the apartment.

* * *

By the time he gets to school, he has almost been run over by Flash in his expensive sports car, who yelled: "No girlfriend to protect you today then Parker!" at him. He removes his headphones from his ears and stuffs them in his pocket. He opens his locker and swaps his books in and out. Peter feels something on his shoulder

"Join me, and together we'll build my new LEGO Death Star."  
"What?" Peter spins around rapidly and sees Ned has a Lego version of Generally Palpatine in his hand. Some cheerleaders roll their eyes at the pair.  
"So lame." Peter and Ned take no notice of them.  
"That's awesome. How many pieces?" Peter closes his locker behind him and the pair takes off walking.  
"Three thousand eight hundred and three."  
"That's insane."  
"I know. You want to build it tonight?" Peter shakes his head and looks sadly at Ned.  
"No, I can't tonight. I've got the Stark-"  
"Stark internship."  
"Yeah, exactly. Hey, have you seen Madeline? She didn't come in with me this morning."  
"I think she was in the gym with the Homecoming Dance committee. Y'know, Liz Allen, Betty Brant, that lot. Anyway, you always got that internship."  
"Yeah, well, hopefully, soon it'll lead to a real job with them."  
"That would be so sweet."  
"Right?"  
"He'd be all, 'Good job on those spreadsheets, Peter. Here's a gold coin.' I don't know how jobs work." Peter chuckles and looks at Ned.  
"That's exactly how they work." As he looks up again, he spots the Homecoming Committee walking past. At the very back of the group is Liz Allen and a girl that Peter very nearly didn't recognise. She is wearing a white crop top that is designed to look as if it were wrapped around her, with a short, black denim skirt and a grey coat over the top to finish it off.

"I'll knock out the bones of the Death Star. I'll come by afterwards. For the most part, the difficult thing is the base of it." Peter zones out of what Ned is saying and focuses on Madeline as she runs toward the boys.

"The top half we can knock out in two hours, tops."  
"That'd be great."  
"Hey, guys, what are you talking about?" Peter can't seem to stop staring at her and she loves it.  
"Just about my Lego Death Star that finally arrived. want to join us in making it? We are doing it at Peter's."  
"Hell yeah. What time?"  
"Seven?"  
"Sounds good." The rings and snaps Peter out of his trance, Madeline grabs his arm and pulls him toward their Algebra class.

* * *

Throughout the lesson, Peter keeps turning around to look at Madeline. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her, she looked great today.

"Okay, so how do we calculate linear acceleration between points A and B... Flash?"  
"It's the product of the sine of the angle and gravity divided by mass." The teacher shakes her head.  
"Nope. Peter. You still with us?" He snaps his head around and looks at the board intently before figuring it out.

"Yeah, yeah. Mass cancels out, so it's just gravity times sine."  
"Right. See, Flash, being the fastest isn't always the best if you are wrong." Flash slams his hand down on the table before glaring at Peter.

"You're dead."

* * *

"Today we're talking about Danish physicist Niels Bohr but trust me, there's nothing Bohr-ing..." The whole class rolls their eyes collectively, "...about his discoveries regarding quantum theory."

Peter whips open the draw besides his desk and continue with his 'Web Fluid' formulae experiments, keeping a watchful eye on the time. Unable to sit still or not think about his 'internship' or Madeline.

By the time lunch came around, Peter was done with school. Not feeling hungry, Peter doesn't touch his food, instead, he stares at Madeline as she helps put a Homecoming banner up.  
"Did Mads get a new top?"  
"I think it's a whole new outfit." Someone walks by and waves at Liz. Madeline stands at the foot of the ladder, holding it so Liz doesn't fall.  
"Liz, hey. That looks so good." She waves back at them.  
"Hey, thanks." Madeline looks around the canteen and spots Peter and Ned staring at her.

"We should probably stop staring before it gets creepy."  
"Too late." The boys switch there view to Michelle Jones, who was sat at the end of the table, nose buried in a book. "You guys are losers."  
"Well, then why do you sit with us?"

"Because I don't have any friends."

Madeline sits opposite the boys, scaring them as they didn't see her coming.  
"Hey." Peter still has the dreamy look in his eyes, even though Madeline is sat opposite him and can clearly see him staring.

"So, early on. I was speaking with Liz and I decided to sign up for the decathlon thingy. I say 'decided', I really mean, she kind of... pressured me into it." Peter was to busy staring at her face and daydreaming about dates they could go on together to even hear what she said.  
"Hey, that's great. There's a meeting during fifth I think. Peter, is there a meeting today for the decathlon team?" Peter just nods his head, not wanting to look away from Madeline.

"Fifth period." Peter mummers.

* * *

Madeline joins MJ who is sat on the floor, waiting for her turn on the podium. She flicks through the books of potential questions to be asked, not reading any of it, instead, she evesdrops on Peter and the teacher.  
"Peter, it's nationals. Is there no way you could take one weekend off?"  
"I can't go to Washington. If Mr Stark needs me, I have to make sure I'm here." Flash scoffs as he reads his magazine.  
"You've never been in the same room as Tony Stark." The others in the group catch on to the conversation.  
"Wait. What's happening?"  
"Peter's not going to Washington."

"No, no, no." Cindy Moon starts shaking her head violently. "Why not?"  
"Really? Right before nationals?" Liz chimes in. MJ sighs deeply before chiming in herself.

"He already quit marching band and robotics lab." Everyone, Peter included, gives her a weird look. "I'm not obsessed with him. Just very observant." The teacher rolls his eyes and looks at Flash.  
"Flash, you're in for Peter."  
"I don't know. I gotta check my calendar first. I got a hot date with Black Widow coming up." Madeline tries to keep her laughter in, she holds the book up to hide her face. Abraham dings his bell and points at Flash.

"That is false."  
"What'd I tell you about using the bell for comedic purposes?" Peter glances up at the clock to check the time, Madeline catches on to what he is doing, he wants to get out of school as soon as possible to do his Spider-duties.

* * *

Madeline walks to Peter's locker only to find he's not there, she was going to tell him that she's not going out tonight to help him because she's not feeling great. Now she'll have to send a text instead.

Mads 💖  
I'm not coming out tonight. I don't feel great. Xxx  
Sent 02:57pm

She walks out of the school gates, excited to see Peter and Ned again tonight when they build Lego Death Star together.

* * *

Peter hit dial on the number, only to hear the usual cringe-worthy voice recording saying: "You have reached the voice-mail box of Happy Hogan."

"Hey, Happy. Here's my report for tonight. I stopped a grand theft bicycle. Couldn't find the owner, so I just left a note. I helped this lost, old Dominican lady. She was really nice and bought me a churro." Peter takes a bite out of the churro and sighs deeply.  
"I just feel like I could be doing more. You know? Just curious when the next real mission's gonna be. So, yeah, just call me back. It's Peter. Parker. Why would I tell him about the churro?" Peter hangs up, putting his phone away again, not seeing what time it is.

Meanwhile, Madeline is slowly making her way to the Parker's residence. Headphones in, blaring music, she watches cars pass her by as she goes. She rounds a corner, the biggest light source coming from the Avengers tower but it's partially blocked tonight. Madeline looks up at the tower and sees a giant plane in the landing bay. Giant cranes are lifting things into the back of it, Madeline thinks back to how Tony told her they're moving upstate. She sighs, thinking about how it'll affect Peter and her, will Tony move her up there? Will she become an Avenger? Shaking the thoughts from her head, she continues to Peter's apartment.

"Yes- No. No, put that down. That's worth more than you or me. Yeah?" Happy taps on the tablet he's holding, making sure everything is in its proper place.  
"Happy! The craziest thing just happened." Happy rolls his eyes, regretting not checking the caller ID before answering. "These guys were robbing an ATM... with high-tech weapons-" Peter's speaking so fast, Happy can bearly understand him.  
"Take a breath. I don't have time... for ATM robberies..."  
"Yeah, but-". Happy is already done with the twenty-second conversation to the point where he won't let Peter respond.  
"...or the notes you leave. I have moving day to worry about. Everything's gotta be out next week." Peter lands on a rooftop near the alley where he always webs his bag to a dumpster.  
"Wait. Are you moving? Who's moving?"  
"Yeah, don't you watch the news? Tony sold Avengers Tower. We're relocating to a new facility upstate... where hopefully cell service is worse."  
"But what about me?"  
"What about you?"  
"Well, what if Mr Stark needs me or something big goes down? Can I please talk to Mr Stark?"  
"Stay away from anything dangerous."  
"I'm responsible for making sure you're responsible, okay?" Peter lands on top of the dumpster and jumps down from it, only to find his bag missing. "I am responsible. I- Oh, crap. My backpack's gone."  
"That doesn't sound responsible."  
"I'll call you back."  
"Feel free not to." With that Happy hangs up on Peter, leaving him backpack-less and without a change of clothes. Sighing, he swings back to his apartment.

"Hello, Maddie. A loud commotion has just come from Peter's room. I think he's back now." Madeline smiles at May, together they walk to Peters room. May swings the door open, only to find a smashed Lego Death Star, a confused looking Ned and Peter in his underwear. Madeline turns away, blushing uncontrollably at the sight of Peter's six-pack and trying not to laugh.

"So, that new recipe I tried failed. I was thinking we'd go out for the evening, Thai anyone?"

"Ned can't he's... got a thing."  
"Yeah, a thing." Ned doesn't sound that convincing.   
"Okay, Maddie?"   
"Yeah, I'll join you."  
"Alright. I'll get my purse whilst you put some clothes on." May walks away and Madeline walks into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Oh, she doesn't know?"  
"Nobody knows. Except for Mads and Mr Stark but that's because he made my suit. That's it." "Tony Stark made you that?" Madeline starts rubbing her temples.  
"I can't believe this is happening right now."  
"Are you an Avenger?"  
"Yeah, basically." Madeline pulls a weird face.  
"What-?"  
"You can't tell anybody about this. You gotta keep it a secret."  
"Secret? Why?" Madeline sits on Peter's bed.  
"You know what she's like. If she finds out people try and kill me every night, she won't let me do this. Come on, Ned, please." Peter is basically begging Ned at this point.  
"Okay, okay, okay. I'll level with you. I can't keep this a secret. It's the greatest thing that's ever happened to me." Madeline shoots up from Peter bed.  
"Ned, May cannot know."  
"I cannot do that to her right now. You know? I mean, everything that's happened with her, I-- Please."  
"Okay."  
"Just swear it, okay?"  
"I swear."  
"Thank you."  
"Can I try the suit on?"  
"No."  
"How's it work? Magnets? How do you shoot the strings?" Peter walks over to the door and opens it.  
"I'm gonna tell you at school tomorrow."  
"Great." He pulls Ned away from the bed and to the door.  
"Okay, well, wait, then. How do you do this and the Stark internship?"  
"This is the Stark internship."  
"Just get out of here." He pushes Ned out the door and leans against it for a moment.

"You are an idiot, you know that, right?" Peter smiles and opens his eyes.  
"Yeah, but I'm your idiot." Peter shoots a web and pulls her closer. With his hands on her waist and hers around his neck, they lean in together. 

"Alright, let's - can you guys not kiss until I've left? Please, for my sake?" The pair pull away and chuckle to themselves. May closes the door and Peter goes back in for a kiss but Madeline stops him.  
"C'mon, I'm starving here." She walks to the door and leaves. Peter stands in the middle of the room, head hanging but with a smile on his face. He follows them out to the hall to get dinner.


	9. Chapter 9

Together, the three eat their food in silence. Until May speaks up.  
"Hey, you're barely touching your food. I thought you loved larb. Is it too larby? Not larby enough. How many times do I have to say "larb" before you talk to me?" Peter looks as if he might explode should May say "Larb" one more time. "You know I larb you."   
"I'm just stressed. The internship and I'm tired. A lot of work." Madeline sits in between them, awkwardly.

"The Stark internship. I have to tell you, not a fan of that Tony Stark. You're distracted all the time. He's got you in your head."  
"Delmar's Sandwiches was destroyed..." Madeline takes notice of the TV playing the news in the background.   
"What does he have you doing?" Peter looks behind May at the screen too.  
"...in an explosion..."  
"You need to use your instincts."  
"...after an ATM robbery was thwarted by Queens' own crime stopper..."  
"What?" May stares at the screen now as well, just as shocked as Madeline.  
"...the Spider-Man. As the Spider-Man attempted to foil their heist a powerful blast was set off, slicing through the bodega across the street. Miraculously, no one was harmed."  
"If you spot something like that happening, you turn and you run the other way. The both of you."   
"Yeah. Yeah."   
"Yeah, yeah. Of course."  
"Six blocks away from us."

"I need a new backpack."   
"What?" May looks at Peter as if he's crazy.  
"I need a new backpack."  
"That's five in the past two months."  
"I know, I just keep breaking and losing them."   
"Alright, I'll get you one after work tomorrow. For now, though, you'll have to carry them around."  
"Okay."

Madeline finishes her food and Peter rushes his. They pay for their food and start leaving.

"I'm going to walk Madeline home, I'll be back in about an hour." May nods her head and lets him go with her.

* * *

It didn't take the pair long to get back to Madeline's, they spent their time flirting with each other and messing around.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She kisses his cheek and heads into her building. Peter watches her go in and disappear from his sight. He starts walking away but something tugs at him, He can't help but feel like someone is already in her apartment. He looks up and sees his fear come true, someone's in there. He turns around and heads back to her apartment building. 

He races through the door, up the stairs and to her apartment door. Only to find she's not there, the lift doors open behind him and she walks out.  
"Hey, what are you doing here?" He turns to her and grabs her hand.  
"Peter-" He drags her back down the stairwell and as far away from her apartment as possible. "What the hell are you doing?"   
"There's something in your apartment."   
"What do you me-" Before she can finish her sentence, a bomb goes off in her apartment. The explosion blows the pair a couple of steps down, Madeline lands on her on her front, hands first. Peter lands on his shoulder, grunting in pain as he does. Madeline looks down at her left wrist and sees it's dislocated, she pushes herself up with one hand and looks at Peter.

"Pete. C'mon, we need to get up." She can feel the heat from the flames on the back of her legs. Peter opens his eyes and groans before standing up. He helps Madeline up and gets down the stairs, he calls for May to get them the moment they are outside. 

Together they look up at the building and see the top of it is in flames, all the other residents are outside, watching the flames. May pulls up behind the pair and runs up to the pair.

"Are you two alright? What happened? We need to go to a hospital now!" She grabs both of them and drags them to the car.  
"May, we're fine. We missed it, they only injury we have is my wrist being out of place." May turns the car around and heads straight for the hospital, luckily for the pair, she is in her nursing uniform, ready for her next shift. 

The drive to the hospital is a loud one, on May's behalf. She bombards them with question after question, none of which they could answer because they'd be a new one every second. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Madeline had completely forgotten about the pain.

May walks straight up to the reception desk and explains about Madeline's wrist. They let them through and get her a cubical. Sitting on the bed, Madeline breathes through her teeth, still in pain. Peter rests his head on her shoulder as a sign of support.   
"Who do you think it was?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"That wasn't a normal explosion, it was a planned one, Mads. I could see something inside your apartment, it was-"  
"Alright, we'll have your wrist put back into place and then you can spend the night at ours." Madeline nods and May walks her to a private room with another nurse in.   
"Peter, take her other hand. This going to hurt but we are going to give you gas and air to help."  
"Okay."

After breathing in the gas and air for a few minutes, they get ready to put her wrist back in place. Peter takes Madeline's hand in his and squeezes it, she closes her eyes and braces herself for the pain. May counts down until they are going to put it back in place. 

One loud pop and a loud grunt later and her wrist is back in place. May preps the discharge forms whilst Madeline is given a brace with metal strips on the other side to keep her hand straight.   
"I'm going to give you a lift back to the apartment but I have come straight back here. Make a bed on the floor and borrow some pyjamas off of us for tonight." Peter nods as he helps Madeline up, she can't really focus due to the gas and air. 

* * *

Peter sits Madeline on his bed and tells her to stay there and she just stares at him. He walks into May's bedroom to get some pyjamas, only to find no shirts, only shorts. Sighing, Peter grabs a light blue pair and heads back to his room. 

Madeline is still sat staring straight ahead still as Peter gets a plain black shirt out for her.  
"Can you change... by yourself, or do you...?" Peter blushes as he talks but Madeline shakes her head and collects the clothes. 

He decides to change his clothes as well, getting into a pair of jogging bottoms and a baggy t-shirt, he thinks about school tomorrow. There's a soft knock at the door and Peter opens it. Madeline stands with her day clothes in hand, still in a trance-like state. 

"You can just put them down there." Peter points to the only place that seems to have a free spot. Peter checks the top bunk to see everything is in its place.   
"The top bunk is ready for you to sleep on." Madeline climbs up to the top bunk and crawls under the covers.  
"Goodnight, Peter."   
"Goodnight, Mads." He switches the light out and climbs into bed himself. 

Not five minutes later, Madeline is climbing into Peter's bed alongside him.   
"I-I didn't get to say thank you earlier." Peter rolls over and loops his arms around her waist.   
"For what?"   
"Saving my life, dipshit."   
"It was nothing-"  
"It was though, if it weren't for you, I'd be dead right now." Peter snuggles his head into Madeline's neck, muttering something he doesn't want her to hear. But she does.

"I love you too, Pete."

* * *

"You got bit by a spider? Can it bite me? Well, it probably would've hurt, right? Whatever. Even if it did hurt, I'd let it bite me. Maybe. How much did it hurt?" Peter is carrying his books in his arms and sighing because he's so done with Ned.

"The spider's dead, Ned." The pair walk up to the subway station, only to see what was Delmar's Deli and the top of Madeline's building that is still smouldering.   
You were here? What happened to that building?"  
"Yeah, I was here and there. Mads' apartment was bombed, she's at my apartment right now. Her wrist was dislocated because she was thrown down some stairs from the blast."   
"You could've died... Do you lay eggs?" Peter turns to Ned in shock and with stupidity on his face.  
"What? No."

* * *

Madeline sits up in Peter's bed, alone. The last thing she remembers is saying "I love you too, Pete." She smiles herself before seeing the time on Peter's clock

'11:04 AM' Shrieking as she falls from the bed, she grabs one of a clean shirt from Peter's wardrobe and a pair of his jeans. She quickly puts them on whilst using her powers to brush her hair. She grabs her bag and leaves the apartment, locking the door with her powers. 

She sprints down the street toward the station, ignoring the pain in her wrist as she goes. She turns invisible and hops over the ticket barrier. She sprints and makes it on to the train with a few centimeters to spare between the doors.

* * *

"Hi. I'm Captain America. Whether you're in the classroom or on the battlefield..."

"Do you know him too?" Peter smirks and nods his head.  
"Yeah, we met..."  
"...fitness can be the difference between success or failure."  
"I stole his shield."

"Yeah, before beating you up." The pair snap their heads around to see Madeline sitting beside MJ.  
"Today, my good friend, your gym teacher..." Cap gestures to the left when the coach is stood on the right. "...will conduct the Captain America Fitness Challenge."  
"Thank you, Captain. Pretty sure he's a war criminal, but I have to show these videos. It's required by the state. Let's do it."

As everybody groups up for the first challenge, Peter challenges Madeline on why she is at school.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"Well, the only reason I'm late is because somebody didn't wake me up this morning."  
"The reason I didn't wake you up is because of your wrist." Madeline looks at Peter as if he's crazy, which, right now he is.  
"Yeah, dislocated my wrist, not broke my leg."

"Smith. Why are you so late?" The pair brake apart as the coach approaches them.  
"I have a note."

* * *

"Do Avengers have to pay taxes? What does Hulk smell like? I bet he smells nice.- " Ned is holding Peter's feet as he does crunches.  
"You have to shut up."  
"Is Captain America cool, or is he like a mean, old grandpa?"  
"Ned, just...okay?-"  
Hey, can I be your guy in the chair?"  
"What?"  
"Yeah. You know how there's a guy with a headset telling the other guy where to go? If you're in a burning building, I could tell you where to go. There'd be screens around me, and I could swivel around. I could be your guy in the chair.-"   
"I don't need a guy in the chair."

"Looking good, Parker." Peter nods at the coach as he goes by.

"Now, see, for me, it would be F Thor......marry Iron Man and kill Hulk."  
"Well, what about the Spider-Man?" Peter, Ned and Madeline all turn their heads to the group talking about the Avengers.  
"Did you see the bank security camera on YouTube? He fought off four guys."  
"Oh, my God, she's crushing on Spider-Man."  
"No way."  
"Kind of."   
"Oh, gross-"   
"He's probably 30-"  
"You don't know what he looks like. Like, what if he's seriously burned?"  
"I wouldn't care. I'd love him for the person he is inside"

"Peter knows Spider-Man." Madeline and Peter before stare at Ned in complete shock.  
"No, I don't. No. I- I mean-" Ned, still panicking, blurts out:   
"They're friends."

Flash jumps down from the rope he was just climbing.   
"Yeah, like Coach Wilson and Captain America are friends."  
"I've met him, yeah. A couple of times. But it's..."   
"Through the Stark internship." Peter looks at Madeline in a thankful way.  
"Yeah, well, I'm not really supposed to talk about it." He glares at Ned and speaks through his teeth as he says this.  
"Well, that's awesome. Hey, you know what? Maybe you should invite him to Liz's party. Right?" Peter turns to Liz for conformation.   
"Yeah, I'm having people over tonight. You're more than welcome to come."   
"Having a party?"  
"Yeah, it's gonna be dope. You should totally invite your personal friend Spider-Man."  
"It's okay.I know Peter's way too busy for parties anyway, so..."  
"Come on. He'll be there. Right, Parker?" Luckily, the bell saves Peter from being completely embarrassed. As Flash passes him, he bumps into Peter's shoulder. 

"What are you doing?" Madeline runs over to the pair.  
"Helping you out. Did you not hear her? Liz has a crush on you. Dude, you're an Avenger. If any one of us has a chance with a senior girl, it's you."   
"Dude, I'm dating Mads. Why would I go for a senior girl?" Peter looks at Ned dumbfounded whilst Madeline rubs her temples   
"Wait, you two are back together."  
"YES!" They both scream at him.  
"Aww, I'm so happy for you guys." Ned hugs them around the neck.

* * *

When Peter and Madeline get home they see a fancy car outside of the apartment building. When they get to the apartment itself, none other than Happy Hogan is waiting for them there.   
"Hey, kid. Tony found a family that can take you in for a couple of months and he's bought you a ton of new clothes. They are all in the trunk of the car, whenever you ready to go, I'm ready."

"I would collect my stuff but this is it. I'll be down in a minute." Happy leaves the apartment and Madeline says her goodbyes.   
"Thanks for having me for the night. And for everything."  
"It's nothing, really. You're welcome here anytime." Madeline turns for the door before realising she has Peter's clothes on.  
"Wait, I need to change." She rushes into Peter's room before going to the bathroom to change.

When she comes out again, May takes the clothes and hugs her again.   
"I'll walk you down." They walk in to the lift together. 

"Yesterday, you said something about my apartment being bombed but you never finished."  
"Oh, I was just rambling, concussion, you know?"  
"Alright." The doors open and Madeline steps out.

"See ya tonight, Pete." 

* * *

"House party in the suburbs.Oh, I remember these. Kind of jealous." "It'll be a night to remember."  
Ned, some hats wear men. You wear that hat."   
"Yeah, it gives me confidence."   
"This is a mistake. Hey, let's just go home."   
"Oh, Peter.I know. I know it's really hard trying to fit in with all the changes your body's going through. It's flowering now." Peter laughs awkwardly. "He's so stressed out lately."   
"What helps with stress is a party. We should go to the party. Plus Madeline is in there."   
"Yeah, let's do it. I'm gonna go.  
"Peter. Have fun, okay?"   
"Okay. I will.Bye, May." 

The pair get out of the car and walk to Liz's house.  
"You got the suit?" Peter shows Ned the web shooter on his wrist. "Hey, how come Madeline didn't ride with us? I thought she was at your apartment?"  
"She got an emergency foster housing for the next couple of months. She said she'd meet us here."

The bass from the music vibrates through the floor with sweaty teenagers dancing anywhere there's space. Peter grimaces as she catches the smell of BO, Ned tries his best to ignore this. 

"Okay. We're gonna have Spider-Man swing in say you guys are tight, and I get a fist bump or one of those half bro-hugs." 

"Can't believe you're at this lame party." The pair look at MJ as she butters a piece of toast.  
"But you're here too."  
"Am I?" She bites her toast and walks away from the pair. 

"Oh, my gosh. Hey, guys. Cool hat, Ned." Ned nods as Liz approaches them.  
"Hi, Liz."  
"Hi, Liz."  
"I'm so happy you guys came. There's pizza and drinks. Help yourself." She gestures to the kitchen where MJ was just standing.   
"What a great party."  
Thanks. Oh, I-" Something smashes behind Liz. "My parents will kill me if anything's broken. I gotta-" Peter nods his head.  
"Yeah. Have you seen Madeline?"  
"She's in her room. Third on the left upstairs. Have fun though."  
"Bye."   
"Bye."

"Dude, what are you doing? Spider it up."  
"No, no, no. I can't-- I cannot do this. Spider-Man is not a party trick, okay? Look, I'm just gonna be myself."  
"Peter, no one wants that."  
"Dude." Peter looks at Ned with a hurtful look in his eyes.

"Penis Parker, what's up? So where's your pal Spider-Man? Let me guess: In Canada? That's not Spider-Man. That's just Ned in a red shirt." Peter looks Flash dead in the eyes as he is humiliated. 

"Fine, give me ten minutes. You go and get Madeline from her room and fill her in on the plan." Ned nods and Peter leaves him. Ned pushes his way through the crowd of sweaty, hormonal teenagers until he gets to the stairway.

He walks up and goes to the third door on the left. Knocking on the door, Ned adjusts his hat.   
"Hey, Ned. Where's Peter?"   
"Oh, he sent me up here to get you and fill you in on the plan." Madeline grabs Ned by the arm and pulls him into her room.  
"What plan?"   
"He's going to crash the party as Spiderman-"  
"What? That is a god-awful plan. We need to call him and cancel it. Now!" Ned nods his head and goes to pull his phone out but stops.   
"Wait, why are you at Liz Allen's house?"  
"Because they're my emergency foster care housing. My apartment exploded - did Peter not tell you any of this?"  
"Oh, yeah. He did. I just didn't realise this was your emergency foster care housing. What's it like here with Liz?"  
"Yeah, it's nice, Liz is a bit in my face but she just wants to make me comfortable here. I feel like there's something off with her dad through. He gives me a weird vibe." There's a moment of silent thinking between the pair before Madeline snaps back to the reality facing the pair.  
"Ned! Call Peter!"   
"Oh right! Yeah." He pulls his phone out from his pocket as gestures for Madeline to follow him to the "meeting point". 

His phone dials the number as the pair walks toward one of the biggest windows in the house. Ned pulls his phone away from his ear and looks sadly at Madeline.  
"Ned, where is Peter?"  
"I don't know. He's not picking up."


	10. Chapter 10

Ned leads Madeline to the place where they're supposed to meet only to find no Peter.  
"I'm going to go out there and look for him, keep trying to get hold of him." Ned nods as Madeline runs back to her room to grab something to tie across her face before climbing out of her window and taking off.

Meanwhile, across the Queens, Peter hangs onto the back of a white van by its door. Exclaiming "ow, my butt" as he goes, whoever is selling the weapons keeps shooting at him with their tech. As they go over a speed bump, one of the power cores for the devices falls out the back of the truck, hitting Peter in the face as it does. The door breaks off of the truck and Peter has nothing to shoot his webs on to so he decides to take the long route.

He runs onto the top of rooftops, keeping up with the van as it swerves onto different streets. He runs along the rooftops, falling into people's gardens as he goes. He scares to little girls who were camping in their garden, causing them to shriek in fear.

Continuing to run along the rooftops, he spots the van again and gains speed to get ahead of it. He spots the perfect rooftop to throw himself off of and runs for it. As he jumps off of it, he yells:   
"Surprise!" Only to be lifted into the air by an unknown force. Peter looks up and sees the same guy from when Madeline was dunked into a lake. He carries Peter higher and higher into the air until Peter hits him in the leg.

He drops Peter from the air and lets him fall. Peter's suit starts flashing and a parachute is launched from the back of his suit. As he falls, Peter gets tangled in the parachute and is unable to see where he is falling. He tries to fight the parachute off as best he can but to no end. He plummets into a lake, the same lake Madeline was dropped in just days earlier. Still stuck in the parachute, Peter can't find a way out of it.

In the meantime, Madeline was running along rooftops trying to find Peter. She looked everywhere she could think he'd be but still hasn't found him. It wasn't until an Iron Man suit went over her head that she realised something was really wrong. She followed it to the lake she was dropped in and kept in the shadows. She watched as Peter was pulled from the lake by Iron Man suit and flown to a park nearby. Madeline follows but whilst keeping her distance.

"What did you put a tracker in my suit?"  
"I put everything in your suit. Including this heater." Hot air blows through Peter's suit, drying and warming him up at the same time. "What were you thinking? First Maddie almost drowns and now you, what's going on?"  
"Well, I gotta take the winged guy down, he's selling these weapo-"  
"Take him down now? It's a little above your paid grade. Leave it to the folks higher up."  
"The Avengers?"   
"No, no. A little below their pay grade."  
"Mr Stark, you didn't have to come out here. I had that. I was fine." The suit turns to him as the mask pops open to show no one inside.  
"Oh, I'm not here. Thank God this place has Wi-Fi... ...or you would be toast right now. Thank Ganesh while you're at it. Cheers. Look, forget the flying vulture guy, please."   
"Why?"   
"Why? Because I said so! Sorry. Stay close to the ground. Build up your game helping little people, like that lady that bought you the churro. Can't you just be a friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man?"   
"But I'm ready for more than that now."   
"No, you're not."   
"That's not what you thought when I took on Captain America."  
"Trust me, kid. If Cap wanted to lay you out, he would've. Listen to me. If you come across these weapons again, call Happy." The sound of a car catches Peter by surprise.  
"Are you driving?"   
"You know, it's never too early to start thinking about college. I got some pull at MIT. End call."  
"No, I don't need to go to-"   
"Mr. Stark is no longer connected." FRIDAY's Irish voice rings through the air as the suit flies away.  
"That's awesome." Peter hops off of the mound he was sat on and starts heading back toward the party.

"Hey." Madeline jogs out from the shadows, pretending to be out of breath.  
"Hey. You didn't have to come out here." Madeline just smiles at him and walks alongside him.  
"'Stay close to the ground?' What is he talking about?"   
"Well, we are teens. He's just trying to keep us safe. He means well." Peter just continues huffing and puffing about Tony until they come across something.

"What is that?" Peter inspects it at a closer advantage point. He recognises it as the weapon they fired at him from the back of the van, just minus a few pieces here and there.  
"It's some kind of weapon, I think. They kept shooting it at me as I followed the van." Peter's phone starts ringing from his pocket. He sees Ned's picture and picks up.  
"Hey, what's up? I'm on my way back."  
"Actually, I was calling to say maybe you shouldn't come. Listen." On the other end, Ned holds his phone in the air so Peter can hear Flash on the mic yelling.  
"When I say 'penis', you say "Parker.' Penis!" With the crowd cheering back at him.  
"Parker!" Ned puts his phone back against his ear again.   
"Sorry, Peter. I guess we're still losers. Maddie with you?"   
"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."   
"I'll see you tomorrow in school." With that Ned hangs up on Peter. Peter picks up the device and swings, with Madeline in his arms, back to Liz's house.

After collecting his things up from the roof, Madeline lets Peter in through her window. As Peter gets changed, someone knocks at the door. On instinct, Madeline kicks Peter to the floor beside her bed and takes her shirt off before joining him on the floor.   
"Hey- oh god, sorry. I'll come back in a minute." Madeline gives Liz a thumbs up as she closes the door. Madeline slips her shirt back on as Peter gets back up.   
"Sorry. I panicked."  
"Nah, it was... good." Peter still being tomato red from Madeline suddenly stripping, regains himself for a moment.   
"Just give me a second, I'll be back." Madeline walks to the door and leaves Peter by himself in her new room. Peter's eyes search the room for a moment, he sees photos of himself with her, the ring on her bedside table. Everything else isn't hers, it's all Liz's family's stuff, they gave it to her when she moved in after the explosion. He's grateful that she has a roof over her head and that she is okay after the explosion.

Something about it still tugs at the back of Peter's mind, it was a setup. Either to kill her or to injure her, Peter can't think who would do it though.

"Hey," Madeline walks back through the door. "Liz was wondering where I was most of the night. I lied and told her I went for a walk because the party got too loud. She totally bought it." Peter nods his head.  
"Look, I should get going. It's kind of late." Madeline nods her head and reopens the window for Peter. "See you tomorrow."  
"Night Pete." He swings away and into the distance, leaving Madeline by herself to watch the skyline of New York.

Peter has no intention of going straight home, instead, he swings to Madeline's old apartment. He sees what used to be her balcony, still intact somehow. He lands on it gently, just to be sure it won't fall out from under him.

The balcony doors have been completely blown to pieces, Peter walks in, being careful of the debris on the floor. Nothing looks as it did once, the walls that are left are completely covered with soot, half a mattress lays on the floor along with pieces of wood that made up the bed frame. As his eyes scan the room, he notices something on the floor, a cuddly toy. He bends down, moving a piece of debris as he goes and picks it up. He looks at the burnt EVE toy sadly, he knows how much it means to her. He stuffs it into his bag, hoping to somehow mend it, probably with the help of Aunt May.

He continues through the apartment, seeing what used to be the roof above the kitchen and the heart of the explosion. Peter reckons that it was set in the kitchen by the front door so when Madeline walked in, she'd come face to face with it before her death. Peter looks at the burn crater marks on the floor before scanning the area around it. Everything is out of place, the sofa is at an odd angle with a hole burnt in the back of it, the already broken TV is on the floor in even more pieces than before. Cables that would have powered lights hang from the roof, the copper wiring exposed, the only light coming from the moon above the city. Peter scans his eyes over everything again, there must have been some kind of debris from the bomb itself, right? As Peter's eyes hit the sofa again, he notices something hanging out the back of it. He opens his bag and pulls out the glowy thing from earlier. It's the exact same, except, it's missing the glowy thing itself. Peter pulls it out of the sofa, making a spring make a loud noise as he goes. He examines it closely, it is the exact same. How could it have been made to hold a bomb?

The hairs on Peter's neck stand up as he hears someone coming up the stairs. Quickly, he shoots a web onto what's left of the ceiling and pulls himself up. A security guard walks in with a torch in hand, scanning the area with it. Peter crawls onto the roof, out of sight. He changes into his suit before swinging back toward his own apartment.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a warehouse on the outskirts of the city, Vulture lands in his base, angrily. His suit detaches from his body and he rips his helmet from his head.   
"Idiots. Idiots, idiots!" He throws his helmet across the base, catching the attention of everyone in the room.

To make matters worse, one of his workers speaks up about the texts he's been getting from his wife.   
"Er, sir, your wife keeps texting you. Something about a break light?"  
"What have I told you about going through my phone."  
"Oh, sorry, you left it out. You know I'm a curious person by nature." Vulture snatches his phone from the table, scrolling through his texts.   
"I finished that high altitude vacuum seal, in case y'know, you want to go for the big one?"  
"You still on that? I told you no, the answers no. Forgot it."

The sound of a rickety engine enters the warehouse, along with a beat-up white van.   
"Haha, woo." The shocker jumps out from the back of the van with the gauntlet still on his arm. The Vulture angrily throws his phone down on the table.  
"That was badass." Vulture steps toward him angrily, the driver climbs out of the front but stays quiet.

"How many times have I told you, not to fire them out in the open?"  
"You said to move the merchandise."  
"Under the radar. Under the radar! That's how we survive. You bring damage control or the Avengers down here we're through. You're out there wearing that goofy thing, lightin' cars, calling yourself the Shocker, I shock people. What is this? Pro-wrestling?" Being completely down with what he has to say, the Shocker waves his hand in front of his face.  
"Yeah, whatever old man."  
"Look, I know you don't give a crap about anything but I do. I built this place because I got people I have to look after."  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Vulture finally snaps.  
"You know what, I can afford your bullshit. You're down, get out of here."  
"What?"  
"You're done, you're off the crew."   
"Yeah, alright. But I wonder if you can afford me out there, with everything I know." He walks away toward the exit.

"Excuse me?"   
"I'm just saying, maybe your wife would like to know where you get your money from."  
"Y'know what?"  
"What?"  
"You're right," He turns to the tinkerer. "does it work?" He simply shrugs in response. "I can't afford that." He picks up the weapon as everyone around him backs up, just in case it blows up or something. Aiming it at the Shocker, he pulls the trigger.  
"No-" Shocker disintegrates before everyone's eyes, leaving nothing but the shocker gauntlet on the ground. Vulture looks down at the weapon in his hand confusedly.  
"I thought this was the anti-gravity gun?"  
"What? No, that's that one." Tinkerer gestures to the gun next to him.

Vulture walks over to the gauntlet and picks it up. Dusting it off, he throws it to the driver of the van.  
"Here, now you're the Shocker. Go out there and find that weapon you lost."   
"Alrigh'."

* * *

Peter pulls the glowy-thing from his bag, placing it gently on the table. He pulls out a hammer from one of the draws and starts hitting the plastic surrounding the glowy-thing. Ned joins his side.

"Thanks for bailing on me last night."   
"Yeah, well, something came up." Peter gestures to the glowy-thing on the table. Peter grabs a screwdriver and starts jamming it into the small spaces around the glowy-thing to try and loosen it.   
"Woah, what is that thing?"  
"I don't know, some guy tried to vaporise me with it."  
"Seriously?"  
"Yeah."  
"Awesome." Peter glares at Ned for a moment. "I mean, not awesome. Totally uncool of that guy. So scary."

"Well, look, I think it's a power source." Both boys nearly jump out of their skin as Madeline silently joins them at the workshop.   
"Yeah, but it's connected to all these microprocessors." Ned gestures to the different parts of the glowy-thing. "That's an inductive charging plate. That what I use to charge my toothbrush." Peter and Madeline share a look.  
"Whoever's making these weapons is combining alien tech with ours." Peter nods in agreement.  
"That is literally the coolest sentence anyone has ever said. I just want to thank the both of you for letting me be part of your journey into this amazing-" Peter hits the device one last time before the purple energy source pops out of it, almost hitting Ned in the process. The group all turn back to the teacher who is reading the paper with his feet on his desk. Without evening looking up from his paper, he remarks.  
"Keep your fingers clear of the blades."

The group turn back to the purple thing."I gotta figure out what this is and who makes it."  
"We'll go to the lab after class and run tests."  
"Let's do it." The three nod in agreement. Peter and Ned then do the most needlessly complex handshake Madeline has ever seen. Rolling her eyes playfully at the pair, they all leave together.

* * *

"Ned," Ned turns away from his locker, closing the door of it as he does. "I need you to keep a secret for me."  
"What? Anything for you bro."  
"You know the holder the glowy thing was in?" Ned nods his head. "Well, I found one at Maddie's apartment. It's an exact copy of it, just without the glowy thing in it."  
"Dude, this is like some Shane Dawson conspiracy theory shit." Peter nods his head in agreement.

"Hey, guys." Madeline catches the boys' attention from the end of the hallway. Peter smiles and waves at her before giving Ned a look that says 'please don't say anything'.

Madeline joins the pair as they walk back toward the workshop. Ned lays a plan of action out for the group.

"First, we put the glowy thing in the mass spectrometer." Madeline shakes her head in disagreement.  
"First things first, we have to come up with a better name than 'glowy thingy'." Ned nods in agreement   
"Yeah. You're right."

Peter looks up the hallway and sees two shady guys with some kind of meter in hand. It takes a moment for him to recognise who they are but once he does, he dives for cover.  
"Crap." Madeline and Ned give him weird looks before Madeline realises what he's seen.  
"Come on, come on, come on." She gestures for Ned to follow and he does, in an awkward fashion. Peter, Madeline and Ned stick their heads out from behind the wall they're all hiding behind to listen to the convorsation.

"High schools creep me out. They got this funny smell, you know?"  
"Hey, that's one of the guys that tried to kill me." Peter points to the guy holding the scanner, the new Shocker.  
"What?" Ned and Madeline say in unison.  
"Yeah."  
"We gotta get out of here." Madeline looks for a clear way out.   
"No, no, no. I gotta follow them. They can lead me to the guy that dropped me in the lake." Ned looks at Peter with even more confusion than before.  
"Someone dropped you in a lake?"  
"Yeah, it was not good."  
"Why would it be? Peter-" Peter starts to walk away and Madeline tries to grab him to pull him back.

"No. Stay there, Mads."  
"No. Peter." Madeline and Ned watch as Peter disappears down the hallway. They both jump as someone knocks on the glass next to them. They turn to see it's the chess club.  
"What are you doing?" Ned shrugs at them.  
"Nothing. Yeah. You good?" The boy nods and gestures to the boards behind him.  
"Chess." The pair nod and smile like they know nothing.

A few minutes later, the two men return empty-handed from the workshop along with Peter a minute later."Hey, d'you find anything?" The pair run up to him."No, they were just talking about how much they hate schools." The three of them walk toward the exit of the school, Peter looks at Madeline with sadness and heartache in his eyes.

They're plotting to kill her.


	11. Chapter 11

The group went their separate ways but Peter has a plan, he planted a tracker on the new Shocker without him knowing.

As soon as he gets home, he calls Ned, knowing that he won't be home yet.  
"Ned, you need to come over now. I need to tell you something."   
"I'm on my way."

* * *

"This is so awesome." Ned watches the tracker move on Peter's web shooter as Peter dangles from the ceiling. He reaches down and grabs a Dorito from the pack on the floor. 

"I know, right? The only downside is their plan." Peter takes a deep breath, trying not to think about it too much.  
"Hey, you said you needed to tell me something. What is it?" Peter jumps down from the ceiling and joins Ned on his bed.   
"Earlier on, they weren't just talking about how much they hate schools but how much they hate the Avengers."  
"Okay...?"  
"The issue is Maddie's father."  
"Oh god."  
"They're planning to kill her and I don't know what to do about it."  
"Tell Tony. You have to, her safety is at stake here, Peter."  
"I know but Mr Stark already doesn't believe I'm able to take down the Vulture guy, he'll never believe in me to protect her. He'll snatch her away before anything can be said or done."  
"Maybe that's for the best right now, they did blow her apartment up. If it weren't for you, she'd be dead already."  
"I know but Mr Stark isn't helping take the Vulture guy down, so for all I know, she'll be gone for months and there'll be nothing I can do about it." Ned sighs in an understanding way and goes back to watching the scanner. 

* * *

Over the course a few hours, Ned kept a watchful eye on the scanner and updated Peter on the location.

"They're in Brooklyn...Staten Island...Leaving Jersey."

When the came to a complete stop, Ned sat up, Spiderman mask on, in joy.   
"They stopped." Peter stands up straight, still on the ceiling. He stares the map on the scanner and reads their location.   
"Maryland?"  
"What's there?"   
"I don't know. Evil Lair?"  
"They have a lair?"  
"A gang with alien guns run by a guy with wings? Yeah."  
"Badass." Peter nods in agreement. "But how are you gonna get there it's, like, 300 miles away?" Peter thinks for a moment before realising something.  
"It's not too far from D.C" The pair both turn to the athletic decathlon poster Peter has hanging in his room. 

* * *

"Hey, it's Peter." The whole group turns to stare at Peter with questioning eyes. Madeline is sat on top of MJ's suitcase, she tried to talk Tony out of making her go but he said: "it's important for your grades... or whatever." 

"Hey, guys, I was hoping I could rejoin the team." Flash barges his way to the front of the group, knocking Madeline off of the suitcase as he goes.   
"No, no way. You can't quit on us stroll up and be welcomed back by everyone." Mr Harrington hops off of the bus, clipboard in hand.  
"Hey, welcome back!" Flash's face drops. "Flash, you're back to first alternate." His jaw hits the floor.   
"What?"  
"He's taking your place." In a huff, Flash takes his yellow blazer off and throws it over Peter's head.

"Excuse me, can we go already? I was hoping to get in some protesting in front of an embassy before dinner." Mr Harrington nods his head in agreement.  
"Protesting is patriotic. Let's get on the bus."

* * *

About an hour into the trip, Liz was questioning the group on different topics.   
"Focus up. Our next topic is the moons of Saturn."  
"Liz, don't overwork them."

Peter hits his bell before calling out his answer.   
"Strontium, barium, vibranium." Liz nods her head and smiles at him.  
"Very good, Peter. Glad to have you back." Madeline rolls her eyes from behind her book at the back of the bus.  
"Glad to be back."  
"What is the current standard unit of-?" Peter's phone starts buzzing in his lap and sees Happy's number.  
"Can I take this real quick?" Liz grits her teeth together.  
"Yeah, fine."

"Hello?"  
"Got a blip on my screen here. You left New York?" Peter takes his phone from his ear for a moment."Tracker." He puts it back to his ear as he sits behind Ned, who has the tracker in his hands."Yeah, it's just a school trip. It's nothing. Happy, I gotta say, tracking me without permission is a complete violation of privacy." Ned gestures down to the tracker in his hands. "That's different."  
"What's different?"  
"Nothing. Look, it's just the Academic Decathlon. It's no big deal."  
"Hey, hey. I'll decide if it's no big deal..." There's a moment of silence over the phone that makes Peter check to see if he is even still connected to Happy. "Sounds like no big deal, but remember, I'm watching you." 

With that Happy ends the call, Peter returns to his seat at the front of the bus. Madeline takes his place instead.  
"So, you gonna tell me what that is?" Ned almost screams as he turns to her. He tries to cover the tracker up whilst lying very very badly.  
"What is?" Madeline just stares him down until he gives in... partially. "Peter is tracking one of the goons from the night of the party, it's nothing serious." Madeline sighs deeply before closing her book.   
"I should've seen this coming. I really thought I'd get one peaceful weekend away from all the superhero nonsense."  
"Puft. Please, you're dating Peter Parker. You'd spend the whole weekend shitting yourself about him doing something stupid. Which, I mean, he has ended up doing anyway. But, hey, at least this way you can watch over him more closely now."  
"Yeah, I guess so." 

* * *

The group of groggy teens hop off the bus one by one, grab their suitcases from the back of the bus and head into the building.   
"Everyone stick together." Mr Harrington tries his best to keep the group together but they all wander off to get a better look at the building.   
"You kidding me? This place is huge." The group stare at the ceiling in awe until Flash ruins the moment with a brag.  
"I've seen bigger." Madeline rolls her eyes and mutters.  
"Of course you have." MJ laughs from her side.

Peter and Ned hang out at the back of the group silently, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.   
"Hey, you brought your laptop, right?" Ned looks at Peter with a worried look.

"Why?"

"Alright, everyone, I have our room numbers. Parker, Leeds, you're in room 204-" Before Mr Harrington can even get the key fully out of the box he was given, Peter and Ned are sprinting away to the stairwell. Madeline knows he's up to something but knows she can't leave the group. MJ elbows her to get her attention.

"Go, I'll text you our room number." 

"Thank you." She leaves her duffle bag with MJ before turning invisible and running to find Peter.

She reads the sign in the stairwell before flying up to the second floor, luckily there are bearly any doors in this building, so she won't draw attention to herself by opening them without her being there.

She runs down the corridor until she spots room 204, Peter and Ned are struggling to get the key in the door. It takes them two minutes to get into the room, Madeline slips in just before the door is fully closed.

Ned pulls his laptop from his bag as Peter draws the curtains across to keep anyone from looking in. Ned opens and starts his laptop up whilst Peter opens his suit up to get to the programming of it. Thank god it took a micro USB cable. Peter watches as Ned's screen lights up in front of his eyes. Peter pulls his pair of tweezers out from his pocket and gently pulls at the tracker in the membrane.

"Peter, why are we removing the tracker from your suit?" 

"I gotta follow these guys to their boss before they move again and I don't really want Mr Stark to know about it."

"Seriously!?" Peter shrieks in surprise as Madeline appears from nowhere next to, he falls on his side, almost having ripped the track from the suit. 

"So you're lying to Iron Man now?"

"No, I'm not lying and I thought you said you weren't going to do shit like that." Madeline stares at Peter, not assumed in the slightest. Peter sits back up again and starts on trying to get the tracker out again.   
"He just doesn't really get what I can do yet. Gotcha." Peter lifts the tweezers gently lifts the tracker from his suit. 

"All right, Happy, enjoy tracking this lamp."

"There's a ton of other subsystems in here but they're all disabled by the Training Wheels Protocol." Both Madeline and Peter give Ned a weird look.  
"What?" They both jump on the bed, either side of Ned. "'Training Wheels Protocol'? Turn it off."  
"I don't think that's a good idea. They're blocked for a reason, Pete."  
"Come on, Mads, I don't need training wheels. I'm sick of him treating us like kids all the time. It's not cool."  
"But we are kids."  
"Yeah, I'm a kid who can stop a bus with his bare hands and you can control the wind." Ned shakes his head at this point.   
"Peter, I just don't think this is a great idea. I mean, what if this is illegal?" Madeline gets up from the bed and walks to the door, pulling her phone out as she goes.   
"Look, do whatever you want. I don't want any part in it, not this time. Go chase whoever you're chasing down, just... come back for the decathlon, alright?" The pair nod at her before Madeline leaves the room in silence, she leans on the door and closes her eyes.   
"Dammit, Parker." 

She reaches into her pocket and pulls her phone out, she sees a text from MJ that reads "Room 212". Madeline looks down the open corridor and spots the room on the corner of the corridor. She walks up to the door and knocks on it gently.

MJ opens the door and lets her in, Madeline flops face first onto her bed and sighs deeply before screaming into the mattress for a minute.   
"Did it not go that well with Peter then?" Madeline shakes her head against the mattress, not bothering to look at MJ.   
"Sorry, but I'm guessing you knew what you were getting into when you agreed to date him." Madeline rolls over so she is facing the ceiling.  
"I'm just afraid he's going to do something stupid and get himself in trouble."   
"I mean, Peter does attract trouble quite easily. He's just a natural magnet for it I guess."  
"Yeah."

Madeline sits up and takes in the room for a moment, it's like some cheap and cheerful motel room. She starts unpacking her bag, taking her pyjamas for the night out and her swimming costume.  
"Why did I bring this again?"  
"Because the plan is to sneak down to the pool for a late night swim."  
"Don't we need our sleep for tomorrow though?" MJ sighs and rolls her eyes.  
"Let's face it, it's only going to take twenty minutes before they'll all want to get out again."  
"True."

* * *

The group made sure that they didn't go out until half an hour after Mr Harrington had made everybody turn the lights out. Of course, they turned back on as soon as they got the all-clear from Liz. She went around and knocked on every door, collecting the group up as she went.

"Come on MJ-"  
"Oh no, I don't swim-"  
"You're still coming with though." Madeline linked her arm with MJ's from behind her and walked her out of the hotel, both with books in hand. Madeline is wearing a pair of shorts over the top of her costume, mostly because she couldn't be asked to shave all the way up her legs and a grey zip-up hoodie over the top half. 

As the group walk down the corridor, Peter comes out of his room, quickly covering his wrist as he goes.   
"Hey, guys."  
"Perfect timing. We're gonna go swimming." Liz whisper-yells at him to not wake anyone else up. She turns and gestures for the rest of group to go past her. "Come on, come on, come on."  
"What?" He watches as the whole team walks by him, his confusion intensifies when MJ walks by followed by Madeline and even more confusion.  
"I was I was gonna go study in the business centre." Madeline gestures for the group to go ahead of her as she stands in front of Peter.  
"No, you weren't." Peter shakes his head and hangs it in shame.   
"Look just... be careful and don't come back beaten to shit, you'll never explain it to the group."  
"Why are you going swimming with them?"  
"I don't know, Liz mentioned something about it boosting morale because she read a coaching book or saw something - I don't know, I tune her out like a white noise machine. Besides, they raided the minibar and these chocolate bars were, like, eleven dollars. God this economy is a mess."  
"You coming!" The pair look down the corridor to see the group waiting for Madeline in the lift.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I will see you in the morning, whether you like it or not Paker." Peter smirks for a moment.  
"Love you." Madeline smiles and chuckles.  
"Love you too." She gives Peter a kiss on the cheek before turning away.

Madeline walks to the lift, Flash starts making kissy faces at her.  
"Fuck off Flash. Just 'cause I'm getting action and your not..." The lift filled with 'ooh's as the doors closed, Madeline spotted Peter climbing to the roof just before the doors fully, making her lose her smile for a moment.

When they got down to the swimming pool, they had to be careful as security was walking around and it would look a little dodgy if a bunch of teens were walking around in their swimming costume, to say the least. 

Flash is the first in the pool, he drops his towel and jumps straight in, getting everyone wet in the process. Everyone climbs in one by one until only MJ and Madeline are left to get in. Together the pair sits poolside, reading their books. Madeline tries her best to ignore the red and blue thing in her peripheral vision, knowing full well that it's Peter spying on the group from the roof. She watches him stand up and put his mask on, a wave of light floods down his body from top to bottom, even shocking Peter.

What the hell did Ned do to his suit?

* * * 

By the time morning came around, the group looked like shit. MJ and Madeline had the sense to go back to their room before eleven, unlike everyone else. Liz looked immaculate as ever in her chosen outfit, her makeup, however, couldn't quite cover up the bags under her eyes. 

They were waiting around in the lobby as Liz ran off to find Peter and Ned. Madeline watched from the bottom floor as only Ned emerge from their room, two suitcases in hand. Madeline sighed deeply and pulled her phone out of her pocket. She put it to her ear as his number was dialled, it went straight to voicemail.  
"Shit." 

"Alright everybody, let's get on the bus, we're going to late else." Everyone files onto the bus, Ned being the last because he had to put his and Peter's suitcases in the boot. Madeline joins him on his row.  
"Where is he?"  
"I don't know, I've trying to get hold of him all morning."  
"What did he set out to do last night?"  
"I don't know." Madeline's face drops.  
"You could not have said that in a more unconvincing way even if you tried." Madeline sighs and lets her head roll back.  
"What are we going to do?"  
"I don't know mate. What'd you say to Liz about Peter's whereabouts?"   
"I said I don't know."  
"Why didn't you say he was ill or something?"  
"I panicked!"  
"It's okay. We'll just have to keep covering for him until he shows up and pray to god Harrington doesn't call the police thinking he's been... kidnapped or something."

* * * 

"Please be sure all cell phones are turned off as we enter the final. Thank you." Madeline can't help but tap her foot against the floor repeatedly, not caring about the decathlon at all. Sure she answered a few questions but they were last minute answers before the other team could get ahead of them. She keeps going to reach into her pocket for her phone, only to remember everyone had to put them in a box out front.

"We have now entered sudden death. The next correct answer wins the championship." Madeline completely blocks the host out, knowing she won't be able to answer the question anyway.  
"That is correct." The group goes crazy as MJ takes the win, scaring Madeline as they go. It takes her a moment to realise why they are freaking out so much.  
"Midtown takes the championship." She wraps her arms around MJ and MJ just responds by patting her on the head.

"To the Washington Monument."

Meanwhile, Peter is in the back of a truck, desperately trying to get hold of Ned. Not only is the glowy thing a bomb but the Vulture and his team have infiltrated the Washington Monument to get to Madeline.

"Ned! Call me when you get this! The glowy things a bomb and the Vulture's team is at the Monument to kill Mads!"


	12. Chapter 12

"We won." The group skip toward the monument, Flash clutching the trophy to his chest.  
"You guys, I am so proud of you."   
"Told you we didn't need Peter." Madeline rolls her eyes.  
"Flash, you didn't answer a single question."  
"Taking it all in, Michelle?" Madeline stops and turns to MJ, she has placed her bag down beside a marble bench that circles the entire building.  
"Oh, yeah, I just I don't want to celebrate something that was built by slaves."   
"I'm sure the Washington Monument wasn't built by-" Mr Harrington turns back to the building, a security guard shakes his hand, implying that it was made by slaves. Mr Harrington adjusts his blazer before bidding MJ goodbye. "Okay. Enjoy your book."  
"Thanks."

Madeline jogs and catches up with the rest of the group on the inside of the building. She joins the back of the line, Ned is ahead of her. She leans over the conveyer belt to see what he is doing.

"Peter, are you okay?... The glowy thing? It's safe. It's in my backpack." Madeline charges forward to get the phone from Ned. "You missed the decathlon. We covered for you."  
"Listen-" Madeline rips the phone from Ned's hand.  
"Peter, is that you?"  
"Hey, Mads. Put Ned back on the phone-"  
"Where are you? You know you are so lucky we won because I think Flash would be out to kill you this time. You better get here asap, MJ is outside, just go hang with her."   
"I have to talk to Ned. It's important-" The security member leans across the belt to tell Madeline;   
"All items on the belt, please." Madeline sighs and places the phone on the belt before going through the body scanner. 

Ned grabs his phone and throws it in his bag before entering the lift with the tour guide. Flash stands at the front of the group with the trophy in his arms.  
"Can I be the one to tell Peter he's expelled?" Madeline elbows his arm.  
"Shut up, Flash." 

The lift starts going up as it would do normally, the worker waits until something other than granite comes into view. 

"The Washington Monument is five hundred and fifty-five feet, five and one-eighth inches tall. Notice how the marble and granite cut around the stone." Madeline watches the worker as he reaches behind him, she instantly knows what he is reaching for. He sees her reaction which makes him move faster. 

He whips the gun out from his belt to shocked gasps from the students and Mr Harrington. He points it at Madeline and puts his finger on the trigger. As he pulls the trigger, a bright purple set of beams shot out from the top of Ned's bag, causing the lift to jolt around. The worker loses his aim and shoots Madeline in the abdomen. She cries out in pain and falls to the floor, clutching her side as it bleeds into her hands. 

The lift begins creek and moans under the weight of everyone in it. The worker jumps to the door and forces them open until he can squeeze himself out onto the top floor. The group watches as he runs to the emergency exit. 

As the group go to help Madeline, the lift finally starts to fall down the lift shaft until something breaks and stops the lift from falling anymore. None of the group wants to move in case the lift falls anymore down the shaft. Madeline ties her jacket around her waist as tight as she possibly can to try and slow the bleed. Luckily, the wound is only a flesh wound and went all the way through, missing anything important.

The group watches the glowing ceiling as their eyes tear up at the thought of dying.   
"Hey, you need to push the panel in the ceiling up so you can climb out!" Mr Harrington stands up and reaches to the panel, pushing it open as he goes. 

Cindy and Abraham are the first to get out of the lift, watching on from the top floor as the rest of the group climb out. 

Flash, of course, gets impatient and forces his way out of the lift, causing it to shake and jolt under the sudden difference in weight placement. The ceiling starts to break as Flash continues to push his way to safety. The group left in the lift, Liz, Ned, Mr Harrington and Madeline, can only watch in horror as the final cables break and they continue to plummet to their deaths. 

Liz and Ned scream until the lift comes to a sudden stop, Liz falls on the floor. They all look to the ceiling, confused as to what caused the lift to stop falling so suddenly. They all look up in shock to see Spiderman's webbing holding them up. There's a moment where everyone thinks they are safe, until his webbing breaks. 

Spiderman lands on the floor as the lift continues to fall, Liz and Ned scream more until Spiderman shoots a web onto the ceiling piece that is now stuck to the roof of the monument. The lift stops again and Spiderman starts to pull the lift back up to the top floor where a full security team is waiting for them. 

As they reach the floor, the security members force the doors open and Ned is the first out. Madeline stands up, groaning as she does. Mr Harrington leans into the lift, the security team holding him back from falling in again, to get Madeline out.  
"Come on Maddie!" The group try to get her act faster, the webbing above starts to snap and the metal under Spiderman's feet starts to groan. He watches on, getting more worried than before because of the blood dripping down her leg from under her jumper. She reaches across the lift to grab Mr Harrington's hand, only for the metal under Spiderman's feet to break. Madeline screams and jumps to get Spiderman's hand but misses. She falls down the shaft a couple of feet before Spiderman shoots a web onto Madeline's wrist and pulls her to safety.

With the support of Liz and Cindy, she stands face to face with a masked Spidey.  
"Thanks, mate. I don't really know how to repay you."  
"You don't have to-" The web above his head breaks, sending Spiderman down the shaft, followed by his little drone. The group starts to back away toward the emergency exit but not before Flash leans over the edge of the doors and yells down  
"IS IT TRUE YOU'RE FRIENDS WITH PETER PARKER?"

* * *

"Oh my god! Maddie, what happened?" MJ come running over to Madeline as she comes out the with her arms draped over Cindy and Liz's shoulders.   
"Ambush." An ambulance crew approach the group with a bed for Madeline to lay on. 

They wheel her into the back of the ambulance and take the jumper off of her waist. Due to it only being a flesh wound that went all the way through, it doesn't take long for them to remove the bullet and patch her up. They give her a warning about not moving too much because of her stitches, they give her extra bandages in case it bleeds a little and painkillers for discomfort. They send her on her way and informs Mr Harrington of the same thing. 

Everyone gets on the back on the bus to head home after speaking with the police. Peter gets on last, everybody is too tired to even questioned where he's been. Madeline is sat on the very back row, slowly falling asleep against the window. 

Peter sighs and joins her, not really knowing what he's going to say to her.   
"Hey, so-"  
"You don't have to explain anything because I really could not give less of a flying fuck, Pete. I got shot today. I'm tired from the blood loss and painkillers I've been given and I just want to sleep peacefully for the next couple of hours. So shut up and let me sleep on you weirdly comfy shoulders." Peter only nods in response and Madeline makes herself comfy on Peter's shoulder. 

* * *

"Mads... Mads..." Madeline opens her eyes to Peter being stood over her. "Hey, we're back, Ms Potts is outside waiting for you." Madeline takes a deep breath, only to groan as pain as the wound hurts. 

Peter helps her off of the bus and to Pepper, who is stood very uncomfortably in a hoodie beside her car.   
"Hey, Pep." Pepper sighs at the sight of the child in front of her, she's pale and incredibly tired. Pepper pulls her in for a hug and Madeline accepts it.   
"Let's get you home."  
"What? No, medical checks with F.R.I.D.A.Y?" Pepper shakes her head.  
"Not tonight, I'll have her watch over you tonight to make sure you don't rip your stitches in your sleep but nothing heavy tonight. Your teacher called Tony but luckily for you, he has set up a programme to respond to any phone calls from the school because we can't just pick the phone up." The pair climb in the car, Madeline puts her duffle bag on the back seat. "Again, luckily, Tony was busy so he didn't get the message, I did. If he did here he'd be pinning Peter to that damn bus. Anyway, let's just go home." Madeline looks out of the window and sees Peter getting into Aunt May's car. He catches her eyes and the pair waves at one another as Pepper pulls away from the school.

* * *

Due to there being a slight complication with Madeline's stitches overnight, Tony is keeping Madeline in the tower for a few days, nearly everything has been cleared out of the tower now.

She is laying on the bed she has been given, there's nothing for her to do. She tried helping Happy but that got shut down within a second of her even looking at a box. So, she lays on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It's Wednesday, she should be out in the park, reading or doing something productive. 

She looks longingly out of the window, seeing one of the Staten Island ferries in the distance. An idea comes to her as she sits up slowly. 

She goes to the door and slowly opens it, she can hear Happy down the hall yelling at one of Tony's bots for dropping something. Due to the tower being sold in the next week or so, F.R.I.D.A.Y is no longer in the tower monitoring everything in the tower. Madeline closes her door again and spins around to face her bed.

The room has all of the extra bedding in it, making it a perfect place for Madeline to create a fake sleeping body. She grabs a couple of pillows and creates a body shape before creating legs with a couple of small blankets. She places her hoddie over on the pillows and puts the hood up, making sure it is facing away from the door. 

Just as she is admiring her work, the door handle turns and Happy walks in. Madeline drops to the floor, hiding behind the bedside table.   
"Yeah, boss. She fine, she's asleep now. Yeah..." Madeline relaxes as the door closes again and the footsteps get further away from her room. 

Madeline slips into the hall silently, she looks toward what was the living room area. Happy is still on the phone to Tony but is distracted by his clipboard. Madeline slips by him and heads for the lift, she pins herself against on the of the walls to keep out of sight and presses the door close button. Happy is unaware of anything going on behind him.

Madeline races to the streets, just wanting some kind of fresh air, granted, it's New York so it's not going to that clean but she still wanted it. She takes a deep breath before heading straight for the school to see Peter. 

* * *

"MJ!" She jogs down the hall to catch with her as she walks to her next class.   
"Shouldn't you be at home resting up? I mean, you were shot last week."   
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just need to find Peter. Do you know where he is?" MJ shakes her head.  
"No, not since he bailed during detention. Although, I did see him lift a set of lockers up with his bare hands. Never thought he'd be doing steroids."   
"Yep, steroids. He's... addicted to them. So, he left the school?"  
"Yeah, I don't know where he went through."  
"Alright, thanks MJ." Madeline sprints back down the hall, ignoring the pain in her side. 

She sprints out the door and heads back toward the city in a hope of finding him ASAP. He could be doing anything right now. Madeline makes it to the street, she watches the cars go by her, her hair hitting her face. A red light causes them to come to a holt, Madeline's mouth drops slightly as she sees the guy who shot her sitting in a white van. Just as he turns toward her, Madeline turns invisible. 

The light goes green and the van pulls away but not without Madeline on the roof. She lays flat on it to avoid being decapitated by anything. They pull into the Staten Island Ferry port and Madeline flies above them, following the guy that shot her specifically.

She stays on one of the lower levels so she can hear everything they say without being seen. He walks on to the lower deck to meet someone else. He's got tattoos on his face and neck and surrounded by big, beefy guys that could beat the crap out Madeline in a heartbeat. 

Madeline listens as he tells them to look for the white van, she looks down the car holding area and spots the van they're talking about. She jumps down but stops herself midair before hitting the deck, she turns to face the van but her heart stops as she hears his voice.   
"I'll take those!" She turns around and sees he has the keys to the van in hand. "Hey, guys. The illegal weapons-deal ferry was at 10:30. You missed it." He jumps into action, taking the guys down one by one. 

"Are you guys okay? My bad. That was a little hard. I got to say, the other guy was way better with that thing. I'm honestly--I'm-- I'm shocked-" He flicks his wrists and replaces his webbing. Madeline steps forward, ready to yell at him for being so cocky and stupid when the FBI appear from nowhere. 

"Freeze! FBI.- Don't move." Peter is just as shocked as Madeline when they pull their guns out. They point at the guys on the ground and even at Peter. "Get on the ground."  
"FBI. What do you mean, FBI?... I know, but what are they doing here?" As Peter is trying to figure out what's going on, Madeline hears the horrid sound of a skull being cracked. She turns and sees someone stood by the white van, she faintly recognises him but can't place it. He gets into the back of the van with the Vulture guy bursting out of it just moments later. He flies straight toward the group of agents and Peter yells at them.   
"Get out of the way. Get out of the way!No." He dives in front of some of them to move them. Madeline pushes one of them with her powers without Peter noticing. "Look out, look out, look out. Move, move, move!" The Vulture guy stops in midair, setting one of the goons that Peter webbed up free, the guy who shot her.  
"Get to the top deck. We're getting out of here." He sprints through one of the doors, Madeline hot on his tail. She's not going to let him get away this time. She chases him through the decks, ignoring the pain in her side as she keeps running. 

She's a couple of inches away from grabbing his jacket when the whole ship jolts. Madeline falls to the floor whilst he keeps running, she watches as he jumps off the side of the ship and is caught by the Vulture.   
"Shit." She watches as the ships start to fall apart on the inside. Peter swings in, firing as many webs as he can to hold the ship together.   
"Yeah, Spider-Man!" The people in the boat start cheering but it stops as the webbing snaps, causing the boat to come apart again. Madeline flies to the middle of the ship and uses her powers to push the water out of the boat. Peter dives to the centre of the boat and tries to hold it together with single webs on either side of him  
"No, no, no." As he tries his best to hold the boat together, Madeline feels dizzy from the pressure of holding the water down. Her side aching isn't helping her either.   
"What the hell? What the hell?" Madeline looks at the ship as it somehow comes back together again.   
"Hi, Spider-Man, Sleeping Beauty. Band practice was it?" Madeline stares in horror as she knows they're both dead.   
"Yeah, Iron Man!" The passengers start cheering for him and Peter follows Tony as he does his best to at least hold the ship together.  
Mr Stark. Hey, Mr Stark, could I do anything? What do you want me to do?"  
"I think you've both done enough." He flies back to land, leaving Peter confused on who he was referring to.

* * *

Peter sits with his legs hanging over the side of a waterside building, staring at his mask. He watches as the ferry finally makes it back to land. He flinches slightly as he hears Tony's suit fly over to him.   
"Previously on Peter Screws the Pooch I tell you to stay away from this. Instead, you hacked a multimillion-dollar suit so you could sneak around behind my back doing the one thing I told you not to do. And to think I expected better from you." Tony looks at a still unseen Madeline. She's visible but hasn't said a word to Peter.  
"ls everyone okay?"

"No thanks to you." Peter snaps, standing up he lets his emotions get the better of him, he still has seen Madeline sitting just a few feet away from the pair.   
"No thanks to me? Those weapons were out there, and I tried to tell you about it but you didn't listen. None of this would've happened if you had just listened to me. If you even cared, you'd actually be here." Tony opens his suit and steps out, causing Peter to back away out of fear. The look in Tony's eyes is like nothing he's ever seen before. 

"I did listen, kid. Who do you think called the FBI, huh? Do you know I was the only one who believed in you? Everyone else said I was crazy to recruit a couple of fourteen-year-old kids." He gestures to Madeline as well as Peter, causing him to turn and see her sadly sat on the roof.   
"We're fifteen."  
"No, this is where you zip it, all right? The adult is talking. What if somebody had died tonight? Different story, right? Because that's on you. And if you died I feel like that's on me. I don't need that on my conscience."  
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I understand." Tony looks on the brink of tears.   
"Sorry doesn't cut it."  
"I just wanted to be like you."  
"And I wanted you to be better. It's not working out. I'm gonna need the suit back."  
"For how long?"  
"Forever." Peter shakes his head, looking as if he's on the brink of tears himself.   
"Yeah, that's how it works."  
"No, no. Please."  
"Let's have it."  
"Please, this is all I have. I'm nothing without this suit." Tony stares at him for a moment  
"If you're nothing without this suit, then you shouldn't have it. Okay? God, I sound like my dad."  
"I don't have any other clothes."  
"Okay, we'll sort that out."


	13. Chapter 13

Peter and Madeline make their way down the street quietly, neither of them saying anything, there's nothing to say. They walk into Peter's apartment building together. 

Madeline got yelled at by Tony for sneaking out when she was injured. 

"I've been calling you all day. You didn't answer your phone. You can't do that. Then this ferry thing happens. I've called five police stations. Five. I called five of your friends. I called Ned's mother." Peter is already tearing up, he hates stressing May out like this. 

"I'm fine. May, I'm okay. Honestly, just relax. I'm fine." May stands up from her laptop, annoyed with Peter's constant BS.  
"Cut the bullshit. I know you left detention. I know you left the hotel room in Washington. I know you sneak out of this house every night. That's not fine. Peter, you have to tell me what's going on. Just lay it out. It's just me and you." Peter opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out, he stumbles over what to say until something comes to mind.  
"I lost the Stark internship." May's face softens instantly.  
"What?"  
"Yeah."  
"What happened?"  
"I just thought that I could work really hard and he could- he would- you know. But I screwed it up." Peter slouches onto the chair behind him, defeated.   
"It's okay, it's okay. It's okay."   
"I'm sorry I made you worry." May runs her hand through his hair as a way of comforting him.  
"I'm not trying to ruin your life."   
"Yeah, I know. Just-"   
"I used to sneak out too."  
"Yeah." May takes a moment to smell her hand and then Peter's hair.  
"And take a shower. You smell. You smell like garbage."  
"I know." Peter stands up from the chair and heads for the bathroom. 

Madeline leans on the kitchen counter, not wanting to get involved, she hasn't even looked May in the eye yet.   
"You want to tell me what's going on? And why you are out of bed, you were shot."  
"It's just sore now. I wish I could tell you what's going on but..." Madeline shrugs her shoulders slightly. "I have no idea about what's going on inside of his head."  
"Me neither. Let me look at the wound." 

Madeline lifts her shirt, revealing an irritated set of stitches. The skin around is slightly swollen and bleeding ever so slightly from where the stitches were put in.   
"Come on, I have some iodine somewhere. It'll help to keep infection away and I have some anti-inflammation cream somewhere. Sit on the chair and take your shirt off, it'll be easier that way." Ma disappears down the hall and Madeline takes her shirt off, leaving her in her sports bra. 

* * *

"Peter, you're a good kid and you're a smart kid so just try to keep your head straight, okay?"  
"Okay."  
"All right, get out of here." Peter stands from the chair opposite the principal and swings his bag over his shoulder. Signing deeply as he goes. Ned stands up from his chair outside of the principal's office to greet Peter with a load of questions.

"Are you expelled? Do you have to go to that high school where the principal has a crossbow?"  
"Pretty sure that's an urban myth, and, no, I'm not expelled." The pair head back toward their classes.  
"You're so lucky."   
"Have you seen Madeline today?" Ned doesn't look Peter in the eye.  
"Yeah, she, um... she said that Tony is keeping her away from you. Something about it being the best for both of you." Peter nods his head, unable to say anything else. 

* * * 

Peter's school punishment lasted almost over a week, he used the spare time from not doing his patrol to hang out with Ned and rebuild the Death Star. He hadn't heard from Tony or Madeline and it was killing him, he just wants to speak to her but every time he gets close, she back away.

It was until two nights before homecoming before Peter saw Madeline again. He happened to be coming out of the toilet during one of his many detentions when Liz bumped into him. 

"Hey-"  
"Hey."  
"I thought you had calculus fifth period."  
"Yeah, I was just doing some last minute homecoming stuff."   
"Hey, look, I- I just wanted to apologize about the whole decathlon thing."  
"It's fine. Last week, decathlon was the most important thing, but then I almost died."  
"No, I'm-- I just mean that... it was not cool. "Peter continues to ramble on because he needs to get it out in the open, he's not even paying attention to what he is saying. "And I haven't even spoken to Madds in a week, it's killing me because I love her - oh shit wai-"  
"I know." Peter's head snaps up to meet Liz's smirk.  
"You do?" His face heats up a bright shade of red.   
"Yeah, everybody knows. You're terrible at keeping secrets."  
"Yeah, you'd be surprised."

As if on cue, Madeline walked out of the gym holding some decorative ribbons.  
"Liz, where'd you say you wanted - oh, hey Peter." Peter gave an awkward wave to her as she stopped in her tracks.   
"Hey, it was nice catching up with the both of you but I have homecoming stuff to be dealing with. So, if you'll excuse me." Before either Madeline or Peter to can stop her, Liz is already halfway down the corridor. 

"So, I just want to apologise-"  
"Madds, you don't have to apologise, I do-"  
"No-"  
"Look-"  
"JUST - give me a second to speak please." Peter nods his head, letting her talk. "I'm sorry for not speaking to you or even acknowledging you but Tony made me. He said if I wanted to go to homecoming, I had to stay away from you. I'm sorry, I should have told you-"   
"No, it's fine, I understand. But after homecoming, maybe we could have a sleepover and -"  
"Binge Star Wars together? Hell yeah, but only after homecoming. We can hang out during homecoming just not before it."  
"I'd have said we should hang out, but I'm gonna be in detention... forever, but you said that we can hang out during homecoming but I guess you already have a date to homecoming." Peter looks at the floor ashamed that he didn't strike up the courage to ask her himself.   
"Actually, no, I was kinda busy healing from, y'know, a bullet wound." They both smile and look at the ground before Peter takes in a deep breath. He turns to her nervously, opening his mouth to speak but then closing it again before stammering his sentence out.  
"Do you want to..." Madeline holds her breath, waiting for him the finish the predictable sentence. "...go with me?"

Madeline smirks and nods her head.  
"I'd be an idiot to say no to you." Peter looks at her in shock, he thought he'd done something wrong and that she hated him again.  
"Really? I mean, great. Cool."   
"Cool." Both Peter and Madeline start to walk toward the gym even though Peter was headed the other way. It takes him a minute to realise he is going the wrong way and he corrects himself, never taking his eyes off of her. "I'm actually going that way."

Madeline chuckles a little before walking back in the gym.  
"So?" Madeline walks past Liz trying to hide her smile.  
"So what?"  
"He did, didn't he?"  
"Obviously. He'd be stupid not to." Madeline smile fades as she realises how work she has to do to get ready for.  
"What? What is it?"  
"I have so much to do! I don't have a dress or a lift or anything!"   
"Just tag along with me, my dad will be fine with it."   
"Oh my god, Liz you are a lifesaver." 

* * *

"Pepper! Pepper! Pepper- AH!" Madeline collides right into Happy as she races around the base looking for Pepper.  
"Woah! Slow it down there kid!" Madeline dusts herself off.  
"Sorry Happy, I was looking for Pepper. Have you seen her anywhere?"  
"Yeah, she's in her office but-"  
"Thanks!" Madeline runs off, ignoring Happy telling her that she's busy.

Madeline stops at the door of Pepper's office and gently knocks on the door.   
"Happy not now."  
"Pepper... it's um, me, Madeline."   
"Come in." Madeline pushes the door open and sticks her head in. "What's up?"

"So you know how I'm supposed to stay away from Peter until after homecoming?"  
"Yes, why? Has something happened?" Madeline smirks.  
"Well, he sort of... kind of... ask me to go with him... or rather meet him there." Peper claps her hands together.  
"Well, we have a lot to sort out and not much time at all."  
"You're not going to tell Tony, are you?"  
"It'll be our secret." She winks at Madeline as they head out the door.

"Miss Potts, I am so sorry-" Happy stands to the left side of the door.  
"Happy, it's fine. I would choose family over work any day. C'mon, kid, let's get in the car so we can found you a beautiful dress." 

* * *

"Pepper, I don't know. There are so many colours and styles to choose from. I don't know what does and what doesn't suit me."   
"It's okay, we'll find something."

After nearly an hour of looking around the shop, Madeline's eye catches something glinting in the light. She wanders over the rack of red dresses hidden in the corner of the shop. She pulls the dress from the rack and holds it up.  
"Hey Pepper! I think I have found the one!" Pepper immediately puts the dress she was holding back on the rack and walks over to Madeline.   
"Oh, it's perfect. You need to try it on to make sure it fits properly." 

Madeline takes it into the dressing room and puts it on. She takes a moment to look at how amazing she looks in it. She opens the curtain and Pepper nods her head.  
"You are getting that one, let's go pay for it!"

On the way over to the till, Madeline grabs a pair of nude coloured shoes, a medium size black clutch bag along with a set of rings for her to wear.

"What am I going to do with my hair? Should I wear makeup? Does Peter like makeup on me-?"  
"Maddie, stop spiralling. We will sort all of that out later. If you want to wear makeup, you wear makeup. It doesn't matter if he likes it or not, the makeup is not for him, it's for you."  
"Yeah, you're right. I was thinking a little light eyeshadow?"  
"Sounds good to me. We can curl your hair or put it up. Anything you want."  
"Cool."

When the pair got back to the base, Madeline hangs her dress up in her wardrobe, smiling at it as she does. 

* * *

The night finally came and Madeline could not be freaking out more. She had been waiting to go to Liz's house all day. She had packed and unpacked her dress multiple times out of stress. It's finally time to head to Liz's house and Madeline could not have moved faster, even if she tried to. 

Her leg bobs up and down as she waits for Happy to walk down the stairs to the car, she can't wait for the night to begin.   
"What's up with you? I thought you didn't even want to go to the dance?"  
"Well, that was before Pepper took me dress shopping and I have to show it off." Happy didn't buy a word of it but really couldn't be asked to deal with having to tell Tony that Peter and Madeline were going behind his back. It's not like they could be stopped anyway.  
"Alright, whatever."

The car couldn't move fast enough for Madeline, she spent the time bobbing her leg up and down in the footwell of the car. It was starting to annoy Happy to the point where he broke the speed limit just to get her there faster and to get her out of the car so he could have some peace and quiet. 

As they pulled up to Liz's house, Madeline was getting out of the car before it had come to a complete stop.  
"Woah, slow down there kid."  
"Can't. To excited. Thanks, Happy." She rushes up to the door of the house and rings the doorbell. 

"Maddie! It's so great to see you, especially after what happened in Washington. Liz is upstairs, you know where to find her."  
"Thanks, Mrs Toomes." Madeline skips up the stairs toward Liz's room. The house looks incredibly different compared to the night of the party, Madeline only got to stay for a few nights before getting shot and having her aunt that 'flew in' to take care of her whilst she was in the hospital recovering from a gunshot wound.

Madeline knocks on Liz's door and waits patiently for her to answer.  
"Maddie! Show me your dress. C'mon I want to see it!"  
"Okay. Okay, calm down, I'm getting there." Madeline unzips the cover on the dress and Liz gasps.  
"It's beautiful. Peter's going to love it. But what are you going to do with your hair and makeup?" Madeline just shrugs.  
"I don't know, I don't know anything about doing my hair or makeup. I don't even know if Peter will like me in makeup or with my hair up-"  
"Calm down, I can help you with it. We are going to make you look stunning."

Liz walks over to her desk and opens her draw to reveal a bunch of different types of makeup and brushes.  
"I'm assuming you don't want heavy makeup?"  
"No, just a little light makeup please."   
"I'm thinking a little bit of sparkle on the eyes and a bold red on the lips. Sound good?"  
"Perfect." 

After an hour of testing out different shades of sparkle gold on their wrists, Madeline and Liz finally decide on a mix of light and dark shades. The lighter shades will start in the corner of her eyes and get darker as it fades out to the outer sides of her eyes. Liz manages to find the perfect shade of red to match her dress.

"Okay, okay, okay! Go put your dress on! I want to see it all together now!" Liz ushers Madeline out of the chair and toward her dress.   
"Alright, alright, I'm going. I'm going." Madeline grabs her dress and heads to Liz's bathroom, down the hall.

Madeline closes the door behind her and goes to close the bathroom window but stops as she hears Liz's dad on the phone just outside of the house.  
"Yeah, I got the girl with me here. I'm giving her and my daughter a lift to the dance. Just - just wait around the back of the school as we planned and we'll get her then. The only reason we have to do this tonight is because you didn't kill her in the lift in Washington. Look, I got to go, I'm due home in a minute. Just stick to the plan, alright." With that, Mr Toomes hung up on the other caller and turns toward the house. 

Shaking, Madeline strips off and puts her dress on before padding her way out of the bathroom barefoot. She tries to get back to Liz's room as fast as possible without drawing attention to herself.  
"Oh my god, you look great. Peter's going to love it." Madeline picks her nude flats and slips them on before putting all of her jewellery on. Liz hands Madeline her black clutch before disappearing herself to get changed. 

Madeline takes in Liz's bedroom for a moment, there are pictures of her with the decathlon team on the walls. Lights wrapped around her mirror on the vanity, a fluffy aqua coloured throw that covers half of her bed and other little things spread all around the room. 

"Hey, Liz -oh." Madeline stands up and takes a step back from Mr Toomes. "Madeline, you're looking better after - well, you know."  
"Yeah, I feel better after... it."   
"Good, where's Liz?"  
"Getting changed into her dress."  
"Oh, well, tell her I'm ready to go when you guys are." Madeline nods and waits for him to leave. She knows she saw him somewhere else but can't identify where from. 

"Hey Madeline, what do ya think?" Liz walks into her bedroom in her red dress, hers has a lace pattern over the top of the red fabric. The skirt flares out at the bottom with the lace going over the edge of the skirt.   
"You look incredible! Oh my god!" Madeline rushes over to admire the dress. "Oh, by the way, your dad is home and he said he is ready to go whenever we are."   
"Cool, I'm ready when you are."

Bag in hand, Madeline walks down the stairs behind Liz. Still on edge from hearing the phone call.  
"Hey dad, we are ready to go when you are."  
"No, no, no. We got to get some photos first. Get together, girls." Liz's mum picks her camera up from the kitchen counter as Madeline and Liz stand together. Liz's mum takes a photo but it's Liz's dad that catches Madeline's eye and everything hits her like a brick. 

Her smile fades as she realises that he was the one on the ferry and that he is the Vulture. The flash from the camera goes off again and Madeline's attention is drawn back to Liz and her mum.  
"Alright, let's get this show on the road." 

Madeline and Liz sit in the back of the car, Liz is looking at cute animal videos on her phone whilst Madeline is staring straight ahead at the back of the passenger seat. 

"What are you gonna do, Maddie?" Her eyes instantly snap up to the rearview mirror.  
"What?"  
"When you graduate, what do you think you'll do?"  
"Oh, I don't know. I haven't really thought about it all that much."  
"Don't grill her, Dad."  
"Just saying, you know. All you guys who go to that school you pretty much have your life planned out, right?"  
"Yeah, no, I'm just a sophomore."  
"Maddie has connections with Tony Stark. I think she doesn't have any reasons to worry."  
"Really? Stark? So cool. What do you do?"  
"Yeah, actually, my dad doesn't work with him anymore."  
"Seriously?"  
"Yeah, it got boring."  
"It was boring?"  
"You got to hang out with Spider-Man and Aura."  
"Where'd you hear that?"  
"Peter, he's an intern there and he said you'd both met Spiderman and Aura." Madeline sighs.  
"Of course he did."  
"Really? Spider-Man and Aura? What are they like?"  
"Yeah, they're nice. Nice people. Solid dudes."  
"Look. So cute." Madeline smiles at the small kitten miaowing for the first time on Liz's phone.  
"I've seen you around, right? I mean... somewhere. We've- Have we ever-? Because even the voice-"  
"She does Academic Decathlon with me. And he was at my party."  
"It was a great party, really great, yeah. Beautiful house, a lot of windows."   
"You were there for, like, two seconds."  
"That was- I was there longer than two seconds."  
"You disappeared."  
"No. No, I did not disappear." Madeline shakes her head in disagreement.  
"Yes, you did. You disappeared like you always do like you did in D.C. too."  
"That's terrible what happened down there in D.C. though. Were you scared? I'll bet you were glad when your old pal Spider-Man showed up in the elevator though, huh?"  
"Yeah, well, I think anyone would be scared, especially when the worker had a gun."  
"Very lucky that he was there that day. Good old Spider-Man."   
"Dad, the light." Car horns come from behind the car as Liz's dad slowly pulls away. 

Madeline stays as quiet until they pull up to the school.  
"Here we are. End of the line."   
"Thanks, Dad."  
"You head in there, gumdrop. I want to ask Maddie here about her internship, only be a moment." Liz pulls a face before turning to Madeline.  
"Don't let him intimidate you." The car door closes and Mr Toomes pulls a gun out on Madeline.

She shallows hard and braces herself.


	14. Chapter 14

"Does she know?" Madeline decides to play dumb with Liz's dad.  
"Know what?" Toomes smirks as Madeline's hair stands on end.  
"So she doesn't. Good. Close to the vest. I admire that. I've got a few secrets of my own. Of all the reasons I didn't want my daughter to date, nothing is more important than family. You saved my daughter's life. I could never forget something like that. So I'm gonna give you one chance. Are you ready?" Madeline nods her head.   
"You walk through those doors, you forget any of this happened and don't you ever, ever interfere with my business again. Because if you do I'll kill you and everybody you love. I'll kill you dead. That's what I'll do to protect my family. Do you understand?" Again, Madeline nods her head.  
"Hey, I just saved your life. Now, what do you say?"  
"Thank you."  
"You're welcome. Now you go on in there and you show my daughter a good time, okay?" 

Madeline climbs out of the car, straightening her dress as she goes. She makes her way toward the doors into the gym, ignoring everyone else as she goes. All of the music and stomping of students feet are drowned out by Toomes' words in her mind.   
'you forget any of this happened... I'll kill you dead', Madeline spots Peter across the room and makes her way in slowly. 

"I need to go. I'm sorry. You don't deserve this." Madeline sprints out the door of the gym, turning around each corner of the school with speed. 

With no costume to use at hand, Madeline lifts the lockers where Peter keeps his old home made the suit, she grabs the top part of his homemade suit. Wrapping it around her face, she kicks the back entrance door that leads to buses but before she can assess the situation, she takes a punch to the right temple by an unseen force.

"He gave you a choice. You chose wrong." Madeline feels a trickle of blood crawl down her eyebrow and into her hairline.   
"What the hell?" She tries to look at her assailant but her hair gets in her face, blocking her sight.  
"What's with the dress, no costume?" As Madeline tries to stand up to stand her ground she is hit in the chest with the unknown weapon. The blast sends her into the side of one of the buses.   
"I wasn't sure about this thing at first, but damn." Madeline tries to stay on her feet but is hit through the back of a bus, she lands underneath one of the seats where it is covered with gum.  
"Gross." The assailant punches the side of the bus so hard that rolls a couple of times, forcing Madeline to climb out the back end of the bus with difficulty. Her head was pounding and everything was spinning.   
"Why did he send you here?"   
"Guess you'll never know." He raises his fist for one last punch at Madeline but is stopped suddenly in his tracks. Madeline looks up in both shock and delight as Ned is stood two meters away from the pair holding one of Peter's old web shooters.  
"Nice shot!" Madeline jumps up and yanks the shooter from Ned's hand before webbing the assailant against the side of a bus.   
"Ned, the guy with the wings is Liz's dad."  
"What?"  
"I gotta tell Mr Stark. Call Happy Hogan. He's Mr Stark's head of security. Get a computer and track my phone." Madeline jumps and shoots a web onto the nearest lampost and flips on top of it.   
"Will you be okay?"  
"Hurry, we gotta catch him before he leaves town." Madeline webs away leaving Ned to set up his laptop and hack the phone system.

Madeline has only really messed around with Peter's webs but has a grasp on what to do with them. Madeline runs across the roof of the school but stops as she sees Flash's car.  
"I'm sorry about dinner but I know when branzino's fresh, and that was not fresh, okay? So--" Madeline jumps onto the bonnet of the car and puts on a deep voice.  
"Flash, I need your car and phone."   
"Sir, technically, this is my dad's car, sir. So I can't--" Madeline just stares him down until he and his date get out of the car.

Meanwhile, Ned has his computer and one of the school computers set up, ready for whatever Madeline needs him to do. His phone suddenly buzzes from beside his laptop, Ned hits the answer button on the side of his headset.  
"Hello, Ned? Hey, hey, can you hear me?"   
"Go for Ned."  
"Ned, I need you to track my phone."   
"Yeah, but where is it?" Ned smiles as he sees where Madeline's phone is. "Genius move. Okay, he just passed the GameStop on Jackson Avenue." Madeline takes the next right, barreling down the road after Toomes, she realises that she doesn't have the headlights on and how it could cause a crash.  
"Hey, where are the headlights on this thing? I'm in Flash's car."   
"I'll pull the specs."   
"Okay, you're on speakerphone Ned." Madeline speeds, taking over every car as safely as she can.  
"You stole Flash's car. Awesome."   
"Yeah, it's awesome, it's--Get out of the way, get out of the way! Move!"   
"Are you okay?"  
"I've never driven before only with Aunt May and Peter in parking lots. This is a huge step up. Hey, have you gotten through too happy yet?"  
"Yeah. I'm working on it. I just gotta backdoor the phone system. The guy in the chair." Ned spins in his chair as Happy answers the phone.  
"Take off in nine minutes. Hello? Hello? Who Is this?" Happy isn't very happy with the disturbance during moving day.  
"Mr Happy, it's Ned.  
"Who?"   
"I'm an associate of Peter Parker. Got something very important to tell you"  
"You gotta be shitting me."   
"Damn."  
"Hey, Ned, how are we coming with those headlights?"  
"Round knob to the left of the steering wheel, turn clockwise." Madeline reaches and the lights turn on, at least it's safe now, bar the speeding.  
"Left, okay. Okay, perfect. So where's my phone now?"  
"He stopped in an old industrial park in Brooklyn."  
"What? That makes no sense. He said he was going out of town."   
"Weird. Oh, I reached Mr Happy. Don't think he likes you, by the way. It sounded like he was catching a flight. He said something about taking off in minutes."  
"What?"  
"He was surrounded by boxes."   
"Boxes? It's moving day. It's moving day. He's gonna rob that plane. I gotta stop him!" Madeline puts the acceleration peddle to the floor and zooms her way toward the industrial estate. 

"Okay, slow down. You're getting close. It's on your right." Madeline does hear him properly.   
"What?  
"Turn right." Madeline sees that she has almost missed the turning and shoots a web at a lampost and using it to swing around the corner. The car flips onto its side and scrapes across the floor.   
"Maddie. Are you okay?" Madeline climbs out of the wrecked car.  
"Yeah.   
"Just keep trying to get through to Happy."  
"It's been an honour, Aura." The lights suddenly flicker on in the computer and Ned's eye widen as he spins in his chair to face his physics teacher.   
"What are you doing here? There's a dance." Ned smiles awkwardly as he tries to come up with an excuse.  
"I'm... looking... at porn." Little did he know Peter was stuck to the ceiling above him and has overheard everything that Madeline and Ned have been talking about. As Ned is walked out of the room, Peter silently drops down from the ceiling and reads the address of Madeline's phone off of the computer screen before sprinting out the door. 

"Hey! Surprised?" Madeline walks into the warehouse, having taken the makeshift mask off.   
"Oh, hey, Mads. I didn't hear you come in." He takes a swig from his bottle of beer before turning to face the teen.  
"It's over. I've got you."  
"You know, I gotta tell you, Pete, I really, really admire your grit. I see why Liz and Peter like you. I do. When you first came to the house I wasn't sure. I thought, really? But I get it now."  
"How could you do this to her?"  
"To her?"  
"I'm not doing anything to her, Mads. I'm doing this for her. Maddie, you're young. You don't understand how the world works."   
"But I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong."   
"How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys? Those people, Maddie, those people up there the rich and the powerful, they do whatever they want. Guys like us like you and me they don't care about us. We build their roads, and we fight all their wars and everything, but they don't care about us. We have to pick up after them. We have to eat their table scraps. That's how it is. I know you know what I'm talking about, Peter." Madeline had already ready clicked onto that fact that he is stalling but decides to play dumb.  
"Why are you telling me this?"  
"Because I want you to understand. And I needed a little time to get her airborne." There's a little humming coming from behind Madeline and it slowly gets louder until the Vulture wing suit burst through the wall behind Madeline. She narrowly misses it by dodging out of the way, she watches as it zooms all over the room, she dodges it whenever it comes her way. She watches as it circles the room one last time.

"I'm sorry, Maddie." Madeline understood he was stalling for his wings but didn't understand why he didn't just have them chop her in half where she stood.   
"What are you talking about? That thing hasn't even touched me yet."  
"True. Then again..." Toomes shrugs his shoulders "...wasn't really trying to." 

Madeline scans the room a second too late, she can't get out of the way from the collapsing ceiling in time. She doesn't remember the ceiling actually falling on her, she just feels the weight of it on top of her and being unable to move.  
"Hello? Hello! Please, hey. Hey, please. I'm down here. I'm down here. I'm stuck. I'm stuck. I can't move. I can't--" Madeline stops yelling out when she hears another voice.  
"Mads? MADS! Maddie where are you?"  
"Pet- Peter!?" She tries to muster up as much energy as she can to keep yelling out his name.   
"Maddie?"  
"PETER! Help! I'm stuck, I can't-" She tries moving again but can only move her arms. She sees Peter as he crouches down to try and find her.   
"Oh my god, Maddie! What the hell happened? Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you."   
"I know I know."   
"I'm going to lift the rubble off of you now, okay?" Madeline feels the relief on her ribs as Peter lift the rubble off of her. Pete helps her up and she clutches the left side of her rib cage.   
"We need to go after him now. He's after the-"  
"Avengers tower stuff currently on a plane on its way to the new facility. I know. I evesdropped on Ned and your conversation. Why didn't you tell me? I can help."   
"That doesn't matter right now, what matters is-" Their conversation gets cut short when they hear the motors of Vulture's wingsuit starting up. "We need to stop him."

"You are staying here-"   
"Hell no-"  
"You just got crushed by a building, I'm sorry." Peter shoots a web at Madeline's foot sticking her to the floor before taking off after Vulture.   
"Parker get back here!" Madeline pulls and tugs at the webbing but nothing works. She looks around to see if there's anything she can use. She kicks some of the nearby rubble out of the way until something shines in her face, a shard of glass. Carelessly grabbing it, she starts cutting at the webs, slicing her hand open at the same time. Her dress was ripped and torn almost everywhere, a chunk of the skirt was missing, half of a cup of her bra was showing on her left side. Not that she gave a solitary shit about her dress, she just cared about Peter and his safety.

After a minute or so of rough cutting, Madeline finally got through the webbing.

Meanwhile, at the Avengers tower, Happy Hogan is watching what he thinks is the plane on course.  
"Good, so it's on its way."  
"Yes, sir, right on course."  
"Okay, thank you. All right. Hot dog." Happy takes a seat and puts his feet up. A few thousand feet in the air, Peter was clinging to the side of the jet for dear life  
"Just a typical homecoming on the outside of an invisible jet." Peter shoots a web onto the wing of Vulture as he tries to knock Peter from the jet. As Vulture flies from the jet Peter shoots another web back onto the jet to try and keep him in range. The Vulture cuts Peter's line just as the reflective panel his first web was on breaks off of the jet, sending Peter flying towards one of the propellers. 

"Oh, God!" Peter closes his eyes and braces himself for the propellers to hit him, except, they never came. He opens his eyes to see Madeline's arms around the torso of his tuxedo.   
"Thought you might need a hand. Good thing I was here too." Peter follows where she is looking and sees Vulture's wing hit the propeller, sending sparks everywhere before flying backwards along with the inside of the propeller.   
"I can't believe that worked." Madeline lands on top of the jet, holding on to Peter so she didn't shoot off. The jet suddenly takes a nose dive toward the floor, sending Peter and Madeline backwards and over the end propeller. The pair both shoot a web onto the end of the jet to save themselves. Peter manages to climb back onto the jet only to see the city coming in over the horizon. Peter sees the beach by Luna Park is empty and shoots a web onto one of the wings and pulls it in a hope to turn the jet.  
"Please turn, please turn!" The jet slowly turns until the beach is dead ahead. Peter turns back to Madeline who is slowly making her way back onto the jet.  
"Peter, what is happening?"  
"I'm sorry." Peter leans down and yanks the web off of the jet, letting Madeline fly off backwards.   
"Peter!" 

Peter doesn't remember the plane hitting the sandy beach. He doesn't remember he himself hitting the sand. He just remembers the ringing his ears and the pounding in his head. He stands up and runs a hand through his hair. His ears and head slowly clear up only to spot Vulture flying toward him at breakneck speed. Peter manages to dodge him by the skin of his teeth.   
"Hey, Pedro." 

Meanwhile, Madeline manages to catch herself before she hits the ground too hard. With her head stinging more than ever, she tries to shake the pain away and gets to her feet. She realises that she has landed in the park itself and can see all the jet parts scattered across the beach. She jumps up and limps her way over the barrier that separates the public beach from the park. She frantically scans the place for any sign of life. She sees Vulture in his now beat up suit, flies over toward a box full of tech.   
"Your wingsuit. Your wingsuit's going to explode!" Madeline hops over the barrier but lands badly on her leg causing her knee to give out. She almost falls to the floor but stops herself, she limps toward where she heard Peter's voice. She spots him face down on the floor, dripping with blood and looking like he could pass out at any given second.   
"Pete!" She skids onto the ground next to him.  
"Time to go home, kids." The pair look up at him as he turns away. In a last-ditch attempt, Peter shoots a web onto his wing.  
"I'm trying to save you!" Saying nothing back, Vulture just cuts the web and turns away. His wings start to break down until Vulture hits the ground and the suit blows up.  
"No. No." Madeline and Peter both run as fast as they can with their injuries.

Madeline manages to put some of the fire out by blowing it out with a gust of wind. Peter grabs a chunk of metal that Vulture is trapped under but yells out in pain from the heat of it. The pair lift the metal together ignoring the burning on their hands until they pull Toomes out from under it. 

Together the pair manage to all of the boxes of tech back together and using the last of the webbing in Madeline's shooter, they stick Toomes to the boxes and leave a note for Happy.

With the help of each other, the pair manage to get to the top of Colony Island rollercoaster where they wait for Happy to show up with his team.

It took almost an hour but Happy and his team show up to the beach to find everything under control. Happy shines his torch into the face of Toomes as he sighs from defeat, Happy spots the note that reads:

"Flying Vulture guy, Spiderman and Aura." Happy stands opposite the note astounded by what these two teens have managed to do by themselves. Movement from the corner of Happy's makes him look up to the top of the rollercoaster in Luna Park. He spots the two beaten and bloodied teens sat on top of the rollercoaster taking a breather. Together, the pair climb back down and head home for the night.


	15. Finale

The pair manage to get back to Peter's apartment, both of them still in their homecoming outfits. Peter's suit is torn and worn out everywhere and Madeline's dress isn't any better. 

Taking turns, the pair use the bathroom to change into more comfortable clothes and to clean the dried blood off of themselves without disturbing May. They'd be questioned and yelled at until they die should May see them covered in blood and beaten to hell. 

Madeline gets back to Peter's room as he is pulling his first aid kit out from under his bed.   
"I'll clean some of your cuts up first if you want." Madeline nods and sits down on Peter's bed. He starts by cleaning her arms, legs and face. He lets her clean his facial and arm cuts, his legs aren't too bad. 

After properly bandaging themselves and throwing their clothes onto the fire escape, the pair fall into Peter's bed together where they fall asleep in one another's arms. 

* * *

"Good morning, it's six o'clock." Madeline rolls over and opens her eyes to see Aunt May in the doorway. She rubs her eyes beforeshuffling free of Peter's arms without waking him. "I prepared breakfast, come out and get whenever you're ready." Madeline nods as May closes the door. Madeline rubs her eyes, stands up off of the bed and sketches whilst yawning. She takes one of Peter's Midtown High jumpers and pulls it down her body, being careful of the cuts and bruises littering her torso. She glances back at Peter who is gently snoring into his drool covered pillow and smiles before silently leaving his bedroom. 

"So it looks like you two had fun last night, how was he?" Madeline gives May a weird look before May realises how her sentence sounded. "At the dance, did he listen to any of my advice on dancing?"  
"Yeah, he was great. He told me what you told him and he was... great." The pair make their way over to the kitchen.  
"Why didn't you two wake me up when you came in?" Madeline panics for a moment whilst being half asleep.  
"It was a long night and we didn't want to disturb you, we were both super tired from dancing." May pulls a weird face as she notices a small cut on Madeline's forehead.   
"Did you cut yourself last night?" May reaches to touch the cut and Madeline remembers it even exists.   
"Oh yeah, I uh, I bumped my head on one of the tables whilst trying to pick up one of my rings. It's only small though, it'll be healed by tomorrow." May and Madeline sit down together in the kitchen and start eating eggs on toast together.

It was around ten minutes later when Peter finally woke up. He rubs his eyes and sees the empty space next to him.  
"Mads?" His door creaks open and May sticks her head around the door.  
"Don't worry, she is just getting ready for school like you should be doing sleepyhead. I want the tux ready to be returned after school please." Peter smiles and nods before May leaves the room. He lays his head back down on the pillow and groans in frustration, his suit was ruined from the previous night's events. He sighs deeply before gutting up for school.

* * *

Peter spent the day nudging Madeline, trying to keep her awake luckily for him his spider-genes can keep him awake even on a few hours of sleep.

Peter, Ned and a half-asleep Madeline walk down the corridor together with Ned discussing the previous night's events.   
"It looked so insane. That whole-- Like, it was just crazy. He-- He was just, like... And you were like... And then I just hit him with the... It was so-- Oh, my God."  
"I mean, you saved me, Ned." Madeline pipes up from one side of Peter.  
"It was awesome."

The trio continues down the hall to their decathlon practice, Peter is convinced Madeline will fall asleep during it.  
"Congratulations, decathlon national champions. Yeah! I'll have to put this back in the trophy case soon but just for motivation right now at this practice. I'm ahead of the game, but we will need a new team captain next year. So I am appointing Michelle." Everyone gives Michelle around of applause, except for Madeline who is falling asleep in her hand. Peter gives her a kick to the shin under the table to wake her up. Her head shoots up and she starts clapping.   
"Thank you. My-- My friends call me MJ." Ned's eyebrows knit together in confusion.  
"I thought you didn't have any friends."  
"I didn't."

At the same time, Madeline and Peter get a text. They both slyly look at their phones to see the same message from Happy.

"Bathrooms, now." The pair glance at one another, which, doesn't go unnoticed by Michelle.   
"Mr Harrington, I can be excused, I'm not feeling too well." Mr Harrington takes one look at Madeline and nods his head. Madeline gives Peter another look, silently telling him to come up with something as she leaves the library.   
"I gotta go." Peter swings his bag over his shoulder but stops in his tracks when Michelle questions him.  
"Hey, where you going?" Peter simply gestures to the door. "What are you hiding, Peter?" All the colour of Peter's face disappears. "I'm just kidding. I don't care. Bye." Peter breathes a deep sigh out. 

The pair walk down the corridor together until they reach the toilets. Peter walks straight into the guy's toilets without a second thought to Madeline. It took Peter a good moment before he realised why she wasn't coming in. He stuck his head around the door and smiled awkwardly.  
"Just stay there and I'll speak to Happy." Madeline smiled and nodded before hiding in the girl's toilets to make sure she didn't get in trouble for hanging around the corridor.   
"Hey, Happy. What--? What are you doing here?" Happy smiles at the teen.  
"I really owe you and Maddie one. I don't know what I would do without this job. I mean, before I met Tony--" Happy gets interrupted by a flushing toilet, the student comes out and washed their hands before giving the pair a weird look and leaving.  
"So how long you been here?"  
"Long enough to be awkward. Boss wants to see you two." Peter's eyebrows raise.  
"Is he here too?" Peter points toward the toilet.  
"In the toilet? No, he's upstate."  
"Upstate-- Like upstate-upstate?"  
"Yeah, let's go." 

The pair leave the toilets and not a moment later Madeline walks out from the girl's toilets.  
"Wow, you look terrible."  
"Thanks, Hap, I was actually going to say the same thing about you." Happy just rolls his eyes and heads toward the car with the two teens following.

The moment they are in the car, Madeline cuddles against Peter and passes out instantly.  
"Last night really wore her out then, huh?" Peter nods as he pulls her jacket over her shoulder for her. "Do me a favour, put the seatbelt around her. If Tony find out I drove without making sure that you're wearing seatbelts I think he'd kill me." Peter pulls the seatbelt across her body and gently lifts her up to click it in place. 

* * *

"Take a look. It's pretty impressive, huh?" Peter looks out the window in awe of the new Avengers facility. "They just finished remodelling the whole thing. You may want to wake her up." Peter gently shakes Madeline until she raises her head and slowly blinks her eyes open.

Happy pulls into a parking space outside of the main building and the two teens get out of the car. Happy gestures for them to follow him into the building, as they walk in the pair watch a Quinjet rise from a bunker underground and take off into the distance.  
"You don't see that every day."

The group continue into the building until they bump into Tony.  
"Oh, there they are. How was the ride up?"  
"Good."  
"Give me a minute with the kids." Happy pulls a face at Tony.  
"Seriously?"  
"Yeah. I gotta talk to them." Happy rolls his eyes.  
"I'll be close behind."   
"How about a loose follow? All right? Boundaries are good." Tony slings his arms over the pair's shoulders, one arm on both of them. "Sorry, I took your suit. You had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect tough-love moment that you needed. To urge you on, right? Wouldn't you think? Don't you think?" He looks between the two nervous teens.  
"I guess."  
"Let's just say it was."   
"Mr Stark, we really-"  
"You two screwed the pooch hard, bigtime. But then you did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies... All right, not my best analogy. I was wrong about you. I think, with a little more mentoring you could be a real asset to the team." Peter's face lights up and Madeline smirks at the thought.  
"To the-? To the team?"  
"Yeah. Anyway, there are about 50 reporters behind that door. Real ones, not bloggers." Tony taps his watch and a panel on the wall starts to move and reveals two new suits for the teens. "When you're both ready why don't you try that on? And I'll introduce the world to the newest official member of the Avengers: Spider-Man and Aura." The pair take a good look at their suits in wonder and amazement.  
"Yeah, give those a look. After the press conference, Happy will show you to your room your new quarters. Where's he between? He's next to Vision? And she's next to Pep and me, right?"  
"Yeah, Vision's not big on doors. Or the walls."   
"You'll fit right in, the both of you."  
"Thank you, Mr Stark. But I'm good." Peter looks at Madeline and she nods.  
"Yeah, me too. I'm good thanks."  
"You're good? Good-? How are you good?" Tony is astounded by the two teens turning him down.  
"Well, I mean, I'd rather just stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. Somebody's got to look out for the little guy, right?" Tony looks between the two teens and Madeline just shrugs in response.  
"You're turning me down? You better think about this. Look at that. Look at me. Last chance. Yes or no?"  
"No." The pair say in unison.   
"Okay. It's kind of a Springsteen-y, working-class hero vibe that I dig. Happy will take you home two home."   
"Mind waiting in the car, Maddie?" Madeline looks between Tony and Happy before agreeing.  
"Okay?" Madeline walks away but doesn't break eye contact with Tony whilst giving him a weird look.

Tony turns back to Peter, smirking at him.   
"Oh god, this is because we tried to hang out together at the homecoming isn't it. Mr Stark-"  
"Peter, I don't care about that. I care that you two clearly like each other and that you didn't get the evening together that you deserved and that was partially my fault. So, as an apology, I have arranged for you two to have a dance together. Madeline knows nothing of it and Pepper has agreed to get Madeline out the door to a 'party'. You need to be ready outside your apartment next Friday at six-thirty, I have a tux you can have and a replacement for the one you ruined last night." Peter feels a deep release within his chest at his words. "Now get back to the car and act like nothing ever happened."  
"Thank you, Mr Stark."  
"Yes, Mr Parker, very well." Peter starts jogging away from the pair before stopping, turning back and narrowing his eyes at them.  
"That was a test, right? There's nobody back there?" Tony nods   
"Yes, you passed. All right, skedaddle there, young buck."  
"Thank you, Mr Stark."  
"Yeah, thank you." Peter turns and continues jogging the other way, as he reached the door the last thing he hears is:  
"Told you he's a good kid." Coming from none other than Happy himself.

Smirking to himself about both Happy's comment and the dance next week, Peter climbs into the car beside a slightly snoring Madeline.

***

The day had come and Peter couldn't stop smirking about it.   
"What's up with you? Why are you smirking so much?" The pair were sat in their final lesson of the day and Peter's heart was racing a mile a minute.   
"I'm just excited for the weekend, it's been a weird week you know." Madeline pulls a face.  
"Literally nothing has happened. Other than Liz leaving and MJ becoming team captain." Peter stammers over his words as he can't argue with her logic. 

When the bell goes off, Peter is grabbing Madeline's hand and sprinting out the door before the teacher can say anything.   
"Whoa, Pete. Slow down, we're in no hurry. It's not like we can hang out tonight anyway." Peter stops and gives her a weird look.  
"The party that Pepper is dragging me to. You know she made me go out and get a dress with her. At least she let me chose the dress, I was scared she was going to try and force something I didn't like." Peter shakes his head.  
"No, no, no. She would never do that, not for tonight." Peter keeps walking.  
"What's so special about tonight, it's just some crummy party. I don't really care about it, to be honest, I'll just text you throughout." Peter just smirks, knowing about what's going down tonight. 

Tony has somehow managed to get the same decorations and set it up to the same way, the only difference is there's is better music. 

As Madeline and Peter exit the school, Pepper is already outside in a blacked-out car.   
"To my death. I'll see you later, Pete."   
"Yeah, see ya." Peter can bearly standstill as he watches the car pull away from the school. Once the car is out of sight, Peter sprints straight for the alleyway so he can do his duties for the night before getting ready to go out. 

* * * 

After stopping a grand total of three criminals, Peter heads to his apartment to get changed. May knows nothing of the party and thinks that Peter is staying the night at Ned's. 

Peter slightly climbs through his bedroom window and manages to close his bedroom door without catching May's attention. Peter quickly changes out of his suit and into his other suit. 

He climbs back out his window again and down to the street to meet Happy. 

Meanwhile, in the Avengers Tower, Madeline is getting help from Pepper with her dress.   
"You look great." Pepper rubs her eye a little.  
"What's really going on here, Pep? Why are you and Peter acting so weird?" Rather than answer her, Pepper runs as fast as she can in her heels to the door. Madeline chases after her but isn't fast enough and ends up with a door in her face. 

"Get ready for the party and I'll be back for you." Madeline hears a clicking sound and tries the handle but it's locked.   
"What the hell? Pepper! Pepper come back!"

Peter arrives at almost the same time as Pepper locking Madeline in her room.   
"Peter, perfecting timing. I just locked Madeline in her room."  
"You did what?!" Happy sighs deeply from behind Peter.   
"Let me guess, she started asking questions and you started crying." Pepper nods and starts sniffling a little.   
"Alright, kid, head in there, boss is waiting for you. I got this covered." 

Peter jogs his way into the building and looks around for Tony.  
"Mr Stark."  
"Ahh, Peter. We are just setting up the last of the party food and drinks." Peter walks into the main hall area to see balloons, ribbons and a table full of food all set up.  
"Mr Stark, you didn't have to go all out for this, just a simple dance will do."  
"No. You didn't get your dance because you two are too damn stubborn not to listen to me... and vice versa."

"HEY! PEPPER! Let me out!" Peter pulls a face at Tony.  
"FRIDAY, let Madeline out of her room and direct her this way. Start laying my playlist whilst you're at it."  
"Yes boss, now playing 'Peter's all lovey-dovey'." Peter rolls his eyes but stiffens the moment he hears footsteps coming down the hallway.  
"Pepper? Tony?" Peter braces himself as Madeline gets closer and James Arthur's Say You Won't Let Go starts playing. 

"Tony wh- Peter?" Peter's jaw drops at the sight of Madeline, she's wearing a dark red dress that has off the shoulder parts that flow all the way around the chest and back, a pair of plain black flats sit snugly on her feet and a golden rose necklace hangs from her neck. "What are you doing here? Where's the party?" Peter still struggles to say anything as he takes in her beauty for a moment.   
"Eh... this is the party... surprise!" Madeline smiles as she puts the piece together in her head.   
"That's why you were acting so weird today. Because you knew about this. God, I'm an idiot."  
"A gorgeous one though." Madeline walks toward Peter, taking in all of the balloons, ribbons and the large amount f food.   
"I think Tony went a bit overkill with the food given there's two of us." The pair chuckle before the lights go out.  
"What th-?" The room is suddenly lit up a warm yellow colour by fairy lights all around the room.   
"Yeah, he really did go overkill didn't he?" Madeline smirks at him.  
"With the food, yeah, but everything else is perfect." 

Peter puts his arm out for Madeline to take.   
"Care to dance, m'lady." Madeline giggles.  
"Don't mind if I do, kind sir." The pair walk to an empty part of the room and Madeline puts her hands on his shoulder and he puts his hands on her waist. Just in time for Lady Gaga's Million Reasons to start playing. 

The pair hold each other close, saying nothing as they take the presence of each other in on such a peaceful night. As if planned, the fairy lights start to gently twinkle and fade in and out, again, as if planned, the pair both said "Tony" at the same time.

After twirling, swaying and just enjoying their together, the pair decided to have a drinks break.   
"So, what do we do after this? Because you know Tony and Pepper will not let us go until we tell him everything."  
"Well, you see the thing is, we are staying here tonight so we literally cannot avoid them." Madeline smirks at Peter "What? You have an idea?" 

Meanwhile in the other room, Tony and Happy are consoling a still very tearful Pepper.  
"Pep, you've known them-" Tony puts a finger to his lips as a way of telling Happy to shut up. Tony gives Happy a look that says 'distract her'. "Errr. So have you told the pair about your engagement?" Pepper cries more.  
"Oh my god. Tony, we forgot to tell them. How could we?" Tony takes a deep breath in.  
"Would it make you feel better if we went and told them?" Pepper nods and gets up to go to the door. "No, Pep, I didn't mean-" 

Tony and Happy follow Pepper, knowing there is no stopping her once she's made her mind up. However, when the group arrive in the main hall they find it empty. Everything has been tidied up by the teens and returned to normal, except for the food table. All the food is missing and so are the plates.   
"What?" The group look round the room until Happy spots something.  
"They hopped it out the window." Happy gestures to the open window and curtains blowing gently in the wind.   
"Of course they did."

Back in Queens, Peter and Madeline are sat between two trees in a hammock made from Peter's webs watching the stars above them. In between them is all the food and drink they could possibly need for, well, a while.   
"They are going to be so mad that we snuck out."   
"Honestly, I'm surprised they haven't put a tracker in my dress or something." 

The pair stay together until the wee hours of the morning, they decide to head back to the Avengers compound for the night, preying that Pepper and Tony wouldn't bombard them with questions. 

Wrapped up in blankets, the pair fall asleep in each other arms.


End file.
